NORTHEAST IOWA - That is not a misprint! There have been multiple reports of the Elma area racking up 12-14 inches from Friday morning through Sunday morning, about 48 hours. Those living in the southwest part of Howard County were probably tired of dodging rain showers to dump the water gauge!
Howard County Emergency Management Coordinator Darrell Knecht, who lives near there, heard eight inches on Friday night and another four or more on Saturday.
He heard parts of Riceville also received 12 inches, while Saratoga measured seven inches one night. The rest of the county also saw large numbers of rainfall. “I think this rain was comparable to the 1993 floods.” Knecht drove around Elma on Monday and saw a lot of stuff sitting in yards to be thrown out that had come from flooded basements
The Elma Fire & Rescue Facebook page gave a shout out to the firefighters and other volunteers who spent all night Friday and into Saturday working. It started with storm spotting at 5:30 p.m. and turned into sandbagging twice in Elma and once in Alta Vista. In addition, they were called at 5:30 a.m. for a mutual aid to assist a stranded motorist in moving water.
It wasn’t just local fire departments that were busy. The county guys also worked a lot this weekend.
Howard County Engineer Nick Rissman said, “We had approximately 235 locations where water overtopped the roads. We didn’t have any locations where the road was completely washed out. However, we did have numerous locations where the road was partially washed out.”
In speaking with landowners (nothing official), he had reports from 8-14 inches of rain from Thursday afternoon through the weekend.
“Our hardest hit area, in terms of road damage, was a line from Elma to Schley. We’re currently estimating the damage to be around $140,000.”
In the coming weeks, the department will attempt to reclaim any of the rock that has been washed off of the road. However, Rissman estimates about 6,000 tons of new rock will need to be replaced. “That will cost roughly $85,000,” he explained.
“We had guys out working until 11 p.m. on Friday night and as early as 6 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday mornings. There was also communication with the law center throughout the night Friday and into Saturday morning.”
Rissman receives information from the maintenance staff and then runs some calculations to come up with estimates. “Unfortunately, we’re getting pretty good at estimating flood damage.”
It is true. The area sees more and more flooding as the years progress.
