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I spent a couple days last week in Benton County, just west of Linn County, where people are still reeling from the #derecho.If you thought Cedar Rapids was livid about lack of media coverage, let me tell you...Iâm sorry I wasnât there sooner.
#Iowahurricane
Driving thru Benton County, in some areas it seemed nearly every farm was significantly damaged, horizon dotted by blue tarps, shattered trees, crumpled grain bins, flattened corn. And thatâs after a solid two weeks of Herculean cleanup efforts.
#derecho2020 #iowahurricane
#derecho2020 #iowahurricane
As Steve Meyer, head off Benton County Emergency Management Commission told me, the devastation is ânumbingâ.
At least with a tornado you drive in & out of the damage area, he says. With the #IowaDerecho âit just never endsâ.
#iowahurricane
At least with a tornado you drive in & out of the damage area, he says. With the #IowaDerecho âit just never endsâ.
#iowahurricane
Beyond damage to homes, Steve Meyer of Benton Co Em Mgmt Comm said what gets him are broken tombstones, century-old windmills & âlandmark barnsâ, all âgoneâ.
Says recovery from #IowaDerecho âwill never be completeâ.
Before & after of welcome to Belle Plaine grain bin mural
Says recovery from #IowaDerecho âwill never be completeâ.
Before & after of welcome to Belle Plaine grain bin mural
I would be driving & just let out an involuntary groan over & over bc seeing more devastation was like a gut punch.
Ppl told me about grain bins flying half a mile thru the air, then barreling thru someoneâs property.
Catholic Church in Norway
#IowaDerecho #iowahurricane
Ppl told me about grain bins flying half a mile thru the air, then barreling thru someoneâs property.
Catholic Church in Norway
#IowaDerecho #iowahurricane
Thereâs scraps of metal scattered throughout many fields still, some more like giant sheets of metal, twisted and crumpled.
Going to be painstaking to get all that out so it doesnât get caught up in machinery.
#IowaDerecho #iowahurricane
Going to be painstaking to get all that out so it doesnât get caught up in machinery.
#IowaDerecho #iowahurricane
I met Terry & Judi Hertle. They live(d) in the house T was born in, that heâs lived in his whole life.
Was built in 1919 by his grandparents who came over on the Red Star Line from Germany.
The house now has no roof. Black mold is taking over the basement #IowaDerecho
Was built in 1919 by his grandparents who came over on the Red Star Line from Germany.
The house now has no roof. Black mold is taking over the basement #IowaDerecho
Terry & Judi have dug a big pit out back where theyâre burning their ruined belongings, some of which are still scattered in the fields.
Decades-old birthday cards, their sonâs old stroller, in a pit to be burned.
Theyâre not the only ones.
#IowaDerecho #iowahurricane
Decades-old birthday cards, their sonâs old stroller, in a pit to be burned.
Theyâre not the only ones.
#IowaDerecho #iowahurricane
The Hertles say theyâre well-insured, this wonât bankrupt them, theyâll figure it out (theyâre in their mid 70s).
Not necessarily the case for many.
At the Timber Ridge trailer park outside of Shellsburg, tents were still set up where families slept after the #IowaDerecho
Not necessarily the case for many.
At the Timber Ridge trailer park outside of Shellsburg, tents were still set up where families slept after the #IowaDerecho
Some of the trailers at Timber Ridge were entirely knocked off their foundations while people were inside. Just imagine that terror.
Many were able to relocate to hotels in Cedar Falls w help from Red Cross. But longterm....? #IowaDerecho #iowahurricane
Many were able to relocate to hotels in Cedar Falls w help from Red Cross. But longterm....? #IowaDerecho #iowahurricane
Timber Ridge mgr told me itâs been a struggle just to get a dumpster to put all the storm debris in.
Materials are in such short supply due to the scale of damage across the region, theyâre looking to source in IL & WI. Expect delays in rebuilding #IowaDerecho #iowahurricane
Materials are in such short supply due to the scale of damage across the region, theyâre looking to source in IL & WI. Expect delays in rebuilding #IowaDerecho #iowahurricane
Again, as of now, the residents of Timber Ridge outside Shellsburg, all of Benton Co, and all other affected counties except Linn, cannot get individual assistance from FEMA.
That $ can help w home repairs, rent assistance, relocation, medical bills #IowaDerecho #iowahurricane
That $ can help w home repairs, rent assistance, relocation, medical bills #IowaDerecho #iowahurricane
As Belle Plaine City Administrator Stephen Beck told me, FEMA individual assistance for rural poor âwould change their livesâ.
Farm damage is incredible, but he says farmers âwill be taken care ofâ. But ânobody is taking care of rural poorâ.
#IowaDerecho #iowahurricane
Farm damage is incredible, but he says farmers âwill be taken care ofâ. But ânobody is taking care of rural poorâ.
#IowaDerecho #iowahurricane
More from rural Benton County:
Belle Plaine City Administrator Stephen Beck told me heâs beyond frustrated w what he sees as a lack of coordinated disaster response from st & federal govt.
Said they âflew over Benton County like it doesnât existâ.
#IowaDerecho #iowahurricane
Belle Plaine City Administrator Stephen Beck told me heâs beyond frustrated w what he sees as a lack of coordinated disaster response from st & federal govt.
Said they âflew over Benton County like it doesnât existâ.
#IowaDerecho #iowahurricane
Belle Plaine City Administrator Stephen Beck said heâs incredibly worried about mental health, not just in BP, but in the smaller towns around that BP is a hub for.
More than the #IowaDerecho, more than #COVID19, he says the crisis there is mental health.
#iowahurricane
More than the #IowaDerecho, more than #COVID19, he says the crisis there is mental health.
#iowahurricane
Pastor Kate West of First Congregational United Church of Christ in Belle Plaine was one of the many local volunteers who stepped up after the #IowaDerecho.
She became de facto emergency food aid coordinator, something she said sheâd never done before. #IowaHurricane
She became de facto emergency food aid coordinator, something she said sheâd never done before. #IowaHurricane
Not sure why it's not showing up in the alt description of these past Belle Plaine photos, but they're courtesy of Belle Plaine City Administrator Stephen Beck. Thank you!
Pastor Kate West (on the r) ran food kitchen out of the Belle Plaine community ctr, says they fed up to 800 a day.
Residents could also charge phones & medical devices there. Said # of ppl who came to charge oxygen equipment bc nowhere else to go was unconscionable #IowaDerecho
Residents could also charge phones & medical devices there. Said # of ppl who came to charge oxygen equipment bc nowhere else to go was unconscionable #IowaDerecho
Pastor Kate West on rural poverty and the #IowaDerecho:
âI really feel like we are being told, pull yourself up from the bootstraps.
Well, if you no longer have straps on your boots, how are we supposed to pull them up?
And thatâs if youâre lucky enough to have a boot.â
âI really feel like we are being told, pull yourself up from the bootstraps.
Well, if you no longer have straps on your boots, how are we supposed to pull them up?
And thatâs if youâre lucky enough to have a boot.â
Pastor Kate West says sheâs also very concerned about mental health after the #IowaDerecho. Says itâs physically so much harder to access & culturally taboo.
Worried about ppl who seem fine, take care of spouses & kids and then âwalk out into a field one day and never come backâ
Worried about ppl who seem fine, take care of spouses & kids and then âwalk out into a field one day and never come backâ
Update: last night the announcement came down that @fema has approved individual assistance for 10 additional counties in Iowa, including Benton County.
More on this from me
#IowaDerecho #IowaHurricane #iapolitics https://www.iowapublicradio.org/ipr-news/2020-09-01/fema-approves-individual-assistance-for-10-more-iowa-counties-hit-by-derecho
#IowaDerecho #IowaHurricane #iapolitics https://www.iowapublicradio.org/ipr-news/2020-09-01/fema-approves-individual-assistance-for-10-more-iowa-counties-hit-by-derecho
My latest: some of the #derecho stories in rural Iowa are astonishing: a grain bin flying half a mile thru the air, tree limbs the size of person flying 60 ft up.
And the people left behind in the rubble.
Listen here for the fate of one century farm https://www.iowapublicradio.org/ipr-news/2020-09-04/in-benton-county-a-century-farm-lost-to-the-derecho
And the people left behind in the rubble.
Listen here for the fate of one century farm
https://www.iowapublicradio.org/ipr-news/2020-09-04/in-benton-county-a-century-farm-lost-to-the-derecho
