The mayor of a small northwest Iowa community hit hard by flash flooding two years ago says recovery hasn’t been easy, but Hawarden Mayor Larry Gregg says in some ways the city is better off than before the flood.
“One of the things that came out of the flood is a sense of community pride and resilience and helping your neighbor,” Gregg says.
Several Hawarden residents have been waiting for payments from FEMA’s buyout program for property owners in flood-prone areas. FEMA payments are for the market value of a home before it was damaged. “The good thing is we know that money is coming. We started our first couple of houses that were in the buy-out system are starting to get reimbursed for that now and so we have 10 other houses that hopefully will be coming along very soon,” Gregg says. “Things are looking up.”
Gregg says new housing units are being built in Hawarden, too. “New condos being built, apartments over our stores in downtown and filling up fast. It’s hard to keep up with the need, but we’re still building and planning on building more,” Gregg says, “and so it’s exciting to see that happen.”
More than 300 homes in Hawarden were damaged by the flooding in 2024.
(Reporting by Doug Broek, KSOU, Sioux Center)