Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties
Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties
Floods inudate northwest Iowa following torrential rains
Hartley Street Suprintendent Rusty Howard peers into a sewer manhole at the intersection of First Street Northwest and Third Avenue West last Friday while a pump works to alleviate pressure on the system.
There were no tee times necessary last week at Meadowbrook Golf & Country Club – or this week.
A truck splashes through flooded water on North Second Avenue West last week.
These cows turned into stewed beef south of Hartley on June 21 thanks to the onslaught of rainstorms.
A pump alleviates pressure on the sewer system south of Highway 18 in Hartley on Saturday morning.
Water pushes through a sewer manhole cover near Fanning Field in Hartley on Saturday morning.
A car in Everly is flooded past its bumper.
A truck from the Everly Fire Department helps pump floodwaters from the former CC/E High School property following last week's storms. Like elsewhere across northwest Iowa, Everly was slammed by floods that caused significant damage to property throughhout the community.
Curtis Conaway surveys a pile of debris from someone's damaged basement on Fourth Street Northwest early Tuesday evening during a cleanup effort spearheaded by several local volunteers.
To say Mother Nature had the upper hand last week would be an understatement.
A relentless onslaught of rain dumped more water on the region than it could handle, leading to widespread flooding that affected people across northwest Iowa. Locally, homes flooded and some people were displaced due to basement collapses and emergency evacuations; however, immediate damage paled in comparison to the devastation seen in places like Spencer and Rock Valley.
"The resources are just very, very stretched right now," said Hartley City Administrator Roxann Swanson. "Every single town has been impacted. We're just trying to do the best we can with what we have and keep everybody safe."
Maps from the National Weather Service in Sioux Falls show parts of Clay and O'Brien counties received more than eight inches of rain between June 20-22. The deluge came to a head on Friday night when more heavy rainfall caused flash flooding, overwhelmed local infrastructure and led to backups in basements.
In Hartley, five basement foundations collapsed because of flooding – a sixth could be added to the list pending inspection. The ambulance team and fire department had to evacuate residents in the hardest-hit areas Friday night, displacing around 25 people. Some went to stay with family members while others took shelter at Grace Fellowship.
The city's east side lift station was knocked out Friday night when the floodwaters shorted out electrical equipment. Several homeowners experienced sewer backup as a result, forcing them to tear out affected portions of their basements.
The city brought in outside pumps at the lift station to alleviate pressure on the sewer system, which eventually helped end infiltration into homes. As of Tuesday afternoon, one of the lift station's two pumps was still out of commission.
"Right now, our main priority is getting that other pump on line," said Hartley Superintendent of Public Works Tony Weatherman. "Once things slow down we can get together and assess what caused this problem to happen."
Beginning early Friday morning through Monday, city employees worked around the clock to keep pumps operating in the sanitary sewer in an effort to prevent backups.
"I don't think we could ask for better employees. They worked hard, they worked through adversity and they just kept going," Weatherman said. "If they couldn't figure something out, they did everything they could to reach out to people for help. When stuff was flying at them fast, they stayed calm through it all and got the job done."
Additional pumps from the county and Valero aided in managing the water. Swanson noted the city's immediate priority was keeping utilities functioning, which was accomplished – gas, water and electrical service were uninterrupted during the flood.
Swanson also tipped her hat to the city's employees, who weren't immune to flooding at their own homes.
"I don't know of any of our employees that weren't affected in one way or another," she said.
Mayor Rodney Ahrenstorff declared a state of emergency on Saturday morning. Local officials met with O'Brien County EMA Director Jared Johnson to develop a plan, which primarily focused on dealing with water.
"Jared reiterated that there was no help and we were on our own. There was no help coming," Swanson said. "We needed to do all that we could ourselves for cleanup and water management."
Floodwaters receded Saturday, but the damage was done.
"It's a slow process before we get caught back up," said Weatherman.
• Cleanup efforts begin
Small mountains of wet carpet, furniture and other items formed on local curbs Saturday as cleanup efforts began in earnest. Neighbors helped each other tear out basements and remove damaged belongings throughout the weekend into Monday. The city was able to obtain a roll-off dumpster from Brommer Sanitation, which filled quickly.
Cleanup efforts differed from the last flood in 2018. Swanson explained that back then, the city operated its own garbage service and had its own truck. Now, it contracts those services with Brommer, which has limited resources at the moment.
"They serve a lot of communities in northwest Iowa, which are all affected by the flooding," Swanson explained. "It's not that the city is trying to be heartless and that we won't help, it's just that our first priority is utilities and getting them back to normal before we deal with the damage."
Several people donated time and equipment to help remove debris from curbs Monday and Tuesday and bring it to a temporary dump site at the city's equipment shed. The city will remove remaining items on July 1, and an appliance pickup is slated for July 2. All items should be placed on curbs the evening before.
"It's a slow process before we get caught back up," said Weatherman.
