“A lot of activity, but we’ve been blessed. We didn’t have some of the major damages along with deaths and destruction in a lot of (other) counties,” she said.

The widespread flooding, Elder added, had the biggest impact on the county, and she did authorize individual assistance through Mid-Iowa Community Action (MICA) for those who lost groceries because of power outages and/or flooding. Receipts of items that are repaired or replaced must be presented along with proof that the individual was in the flood zone or lost electricity.

The county and the city of Le Grand have submitted disaster declarations, and Marshall was one of 15 counties included in a proclamation issued by Gov. Kim Reynolds on Tuesday night.

“That opens us up for any help or other things that we may need for returning to whatever normal is anymore. Most of it’s going to be working with Secondary Roads, seeing what their damages are and see what we’re gonna have to work on,” Elder said. “But that’s gonna take a while before this water goes down, I’m afraid, so we’ll be doing assessments as we can, especially… on the bridges and culverts and things that Paul (Geilenfeldt) and I have talked about. We’re gonna go over those after this meeting.”

A “water over road” sign was placed near the intersection of Prairie Avenue and Sand Road northwest of Marshalltown as of Wednesday afternoon. Roads across the county were closed due to flooding, and the Iowa River was expected to crest at 19’3” on Thursday at 1 a.m.

Supervisor Carol Hibbs asked Elder how many roads were currently closed in the county as of Wednesday morning, and while she didn’t know the exact number, she responded “a lot.” Geilenfeldt, the county engineer, then jumped in an attempt to provide more information and shared a map of closures.

“I think we’ve pretty much got all the signs out, so there’s closures that are signed and there’s closures that are not signed. The Iowa River is still coming up, so hopefully it’ll crest tonight,” he said.

The river was expected to crest at 19’3″ at around 1 a.m. Thursday morning, but Elder noted that more rainfall was a possibility yet this week. Although Highway 14 north of Marshalltown has not yet closed, a few nearby roads like Prairie Avenue and Wiese Garden Road have been closed due to flooding. Geilenfeldt also expected to see water on Garwin Road in the area close to Wiese Garden along with Stanley Mill Road west of Albion.

“It’s not forecasting at the place where it will get East Main or 14 at this point or North Center Street,” he said.

Elder warned drivers to avoid flooded roads and said assessments would be ongoing throughout the day Wednesday. From Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. to Wednesday morning at the same time, she noted, the river rose 5 ½ feet.

“That’s fast,” she said.

Total rainfall varied from four inches in some parts of the county to as many as 11 in others over several rounds of precipitation. The State Center and Gilman areas were the hardest hit, according to Elder.

As he took over at the podium, Geilenfeldt reported a landslide of the foreslope on old Highway 30 between Lafayette Avenue and Knoll Way west of Marshalltown and said it’s been a problem his department has been trying to prevent and keep from getting worse.

“Essentially, this slope on the foreslope had been very dry and got really saturated, so then it gets really heavy and that land just sheared off and slid down into the bottom of the ditch. The shear point is basically right at the south edge of old Highway 30, so we had to close that road because it’s definitely in some serious peril,” he said. “We’re gonna see if there’s somewhere we can repair it.”

Elder then showed a photo of the Ferguson blacktop as it was closed Tuesday due to flooding, and she was afraid someone would get stuck in it — thankfully, she heard no reports of that happening. Geilenfeldt added that the water there had receded since, but it left “heavy damage” to the north shoulder of the road and would likely necessitate repairs.

She showed another photo of a possibly tornadic funnel cloud in the southern part of the county captured from the Green Castle Recreation Area parking lot, and Elder said she would travel down there to get a closer look along with “possible reports” of tornadoes near Gilman along the Marshall/Jasper County line.

Marshall County Conservation Director Emily Herring then shared an update of her own. Grimes Farm experienced flooding from Linn Creek going up, and the trails are closed.

“A lot of our areas are underwater, and we just ask the public to please stay out of the water and away from them for safety reasons, and we’ll get them cleaned up as soon as the water retreats and we’re able to work in the area,” she said. “But the Grimes Farm trails, I’d say 75 percent are underwater right now, and it’s gonna take a while for them to dry out. So we are asking people to stay off the trails.”

In response to a question from Supervisor Steve Salasek, Herring said there was water and minor damage at Timmons Grove but not enough to close it down yet, and she said other parks along the river including Three Bridges Park “will be under.”

“Really, anything along the river, we ask that people don’t go in to. It’s gonna be soft, it’s gonna be muddy, and if they tear up, it just makes more work for us. We would prefer they avoid it if possible,” she said.

There was also minor damage at Green Castle and a few trees down at Arney Bend, but nothing at the parks further to the north. As they wrapped up the recap, Geilenfeldt ended with a quip.

“The drought’s over,” he said.

From there, the board considered whether or not to take an official action for a disaster declaration after Chairman Jarret Heil had already signed a form on Tuesday. Since it was already signed, they opted to simply make note of the declaration in the meeting minutes.

County Auditor/Recorder Nan Benson, in recounting taking a generator over to a family member near Nevada, commented that Marshall County had been lucky compared to neighboring Story County, and Salasek offered his thoughts and prayers for Greenfield, the southwest Iowa community where several fatalities have been reported as the result of a tornado — although the exact number isn’t clear.

“We know what it’s like with what happened in Marshalltown six years ago, so we know there’s some struggles out there for folks. But it’s amazing all the people already reaching out heading out to Greenfield especially. I know they’re really lining up out there, and they’ve got a long road ahead of them, but like all Iowans, we all recover and we recover well because we work together,” Heil said. “So prayers to them, and if they need any outreach to Marshall County, I’m sure they will based on the situations we’ve dealt with in the past.”

In other business, the board:

• Approved the consent agenda as listed.

• Recognized Maria Vargas-Gonzalez for 15 years of service to the Auditor/Recorder’s Office and Stacy Freiberg for five years of service to the Sheriff’s Office.

• Approved the Marshall County employee health and prescription drug benefit plan and Marshall County employee dental benefit plan and vision rates for Fiscal Year 2025.

• Approved a resolution abating real estate taxes at three properties in Marshalltown and mobile home taxes at another.

• Approved a road embargo for vehicles in excess of eight tons of gross weight along two miles of 295th Street between Hart Avenue and Fairman Avenue south of Melbourne.

——

Contact Robert Maharry

at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.

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