Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties
Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties
Individual FEMA assistance not available as of now
Hartley's dump site featured heaps of flood-damaged household items as residents cleared out their basements over the past week.
The basement foundation of Kenny Embrey's house located on North First Avenue West in Hartey collapsed on the south and east sides during last month's flood.
Red Cross volunteers were in Hartley this week handing out cleanup kits to people affected by flooding.
A Red Cross volunteer alerts passersby of the free food station in downtown Hartley on Monday.
Hartley Water Superintendent Terry Hilbert snags a Diet Coke from Cooperative Energy Company CEO Dustin Jones last week.
Cooperative Energy Company employees were in Hartley June 27 to hand out free meals to local residents. The company stopped by several other flood-affected communities in northwest Iowa to feed people over the past week.
O'Brien County residents are being asked to self-report flood damage in an effort to get more federal assistance following last month's floods.
O'Brien County Emergency Management Coordinator Jared Johnson is urging local residents to report damage to report-ia-state.orioncentral.com/ as soon as possible. On Tuesday, he said that around 100 additional submissions had been filed on the site from the county in the last few days.
By reporting flood and storm-related damages, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will be able to determine if O'Brien County is eligible for additional recovery funds or cleanup efforts. Johnson noted that damage can change from minor to major in the days following a flood, which is important to report.
"If you're seeing things like cracks in your foundation caused by hydrostatic pressure from ground saturation, please reach out to me so we can update that information and report it," he said.
O'Brien County wasn't included in additional FEMA assistance following last month's floods. As of Tuesday, Johnson had not heard of any update regarding individual assistance. Local residents may apply for the Iowa Individual Disaster Assistance Grant Program, but there is an income threshold requirement that limits assistance to individuals or households under a certain income.
Johnson said the impact from recent flooding was vast and cleanup efforts have been extensive.
"Thank you for what you are doing to help each other," he said. "There are hundreds of homes impacted in our area and resources are limited."
A variety of resources are available on the O'Brien County Emergency Management website, http://www.obrienema.org, and Johnson regularly posts updates to the organization's Facebook page.
