Iowa’s governor has just returned from a five-day trip to Washington, D.C. and Governor Branstad made a face-to-face appeal to officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers on flood-related issues.
“I was really encouraged about that meeting. The Corps has not always been as responsive to governors as they are at this time,” Branstad says. “We discussed the need to adequately prioritize flood control as a top priority in the Missouri River management and the fact that this is an area where the federal government can be more effective.”
Branstad asked the Corps to make a temporary levy protecting the southwest Iowa town of Hamburg permanent. The governor says he mentioned several unresolved flood-related issues still pending in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City which were struck by severe flooding in 2008. Branstad also made a pitch for a “flow study” of the Des Moines River to update flood preparation plans in the state’s capitol city.