(Radio Iowa) — Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig is warning that flood concerns are rising in northwest and north central Iowa. “This is not just a southwest Iowa situation,” Naig said. “It’s bad there, but folks need to be preparing and try to take precautions.” Until the waters recede, it’s hard to assess the condition of cropland. It’s likely sand will be left behind in many places, along with other debris. “That can really impact folks for longer than one growing season,” Naig said.

Another hurdle for the looming 2019 spring planting season is large farm equipment cannot travel on rural gravel roads that are in such soggy shape. “Be hopeful that drier conditions will prevail and we’ll end up with a largely normal spring planting season over most of the state,” Naig says, “but hard to imagine that those folks impacted by flooding today are going to have anything close to a normal growing season.”

Naig is advising farmers in the current flood zone to contact their local U-S-D-A service center to talk through what federal assistance or loans may be available. “Everybody’s situation is just a little bit different,” Naig said. “How you’ve marketed your grain, what your insurance coverage is and so it’s hard to say with a broad brush just how every individual producer would be impacted.”

Crop insurance does not cover the grain once it’s been harvested. Some farmers who have an “umbrella” policy to cover all sorts of losses might be able to make a claim for spoiled grain in storage. Grain bins have been damaged by the flooding, plus corn or soybeans inside a bin that’s been swamped may be swelling and cause more damage to the structure.

The Atlantic ®RAGBRAI Committee is ready to “Sunday Funday” with cyclists, visitors and community members Sunday, July 21, 2019. Bailey Smith, Executive Committee member says “Atlantic is the first full day of RAGBRAI, so the committee wanted to think of a theme that would get participants excited, but also showcase how gracious and pleased we are to be a host community. ‘Sunday Funday’ was brought up and instantly stuck.”

The logo highlights things that represent Atlantic, like the City Park Monument and agriculture, acknowledges the cyclists and their support crews that will be visiting and expresses an atmosphere of fun and music to come in Atlantic. T-shirts will be printed with the new logo for sale in the community and to RAGBRAI guests.

Atlantic last hosted RAGBRAI in 2011, generating proceeds that benefited four local non-profits. This year, four local non-profits will again benefit from the success of RAGBRAI to include: the Atlantic Police Department, Atlantic Volunteer Fire Department, Atlantic Community Schools Booster Club and the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce.

The official Atlantic RAGBRAI website, www.atlanticragbrai.com, will be live and full of information in the coming weeks. This will be the hub for local community members and for RAGBRAI riders to get information about housing, vendor opportunities, entertainment, maps, volunteering and more. If you are interested in lending a helping hand, fill out the volunteer form found on the website.

The Atlantic RAGBRAI Committee will continue to meet regularly to plan various activities for the July 21st overnight celebration. As information is available, it will be shared with the community and on the website. In the mean-time, everyone is encouraged to follow Atlantic RAGBRAI on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AtlanticRAGBRAI for all things RAGBRAI Atlantic.

Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater, late Monday evening, reported just one arrest from the past week. 32-year old Michael Anthony Hull, of Winterset, was arrested March 21st in Boone County. Hull was wanted on Adair County felony warrants for numerous charge of Possession of a Controlled Substance/3rd or subsequent offense.

Hull, whose cash bond was set at $10,000, was released the following day to another county to face charges.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CDT

MONTROSE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a 15-year-old girl accidentally shot and killed herself at a gun club in Iowa. Lee County sheriff’s officials say emergency crews were called Sunday morning to the Tri-State Gun Club outside Montrose. They found Haley McManus suffering from a gunshot wound suffered while target shooting with her dad. The girl later died at a hospital. The sheriff’s office says the incident is being treated as an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound and no crime or negligence is suspected.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Floodwaters are receding across most of the hard-hit Midwest, but there could be new problems if the forecast for significant rain later this week holds up. Already the flooding along the Missouri River and its tributaries has caused at least $3 billion damage and forced thousands from their homes as floodwaters penetrated or flowed over several hundred miles of levees. The flooding is blamed in three confirmed deaths.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — More than two dozen residents in a suburban Des Moines neighborhood are anticipating limited access to schools, work or emergency services for hours at a time this spring because of idling railroad trains. Wayne and Rita Brasel live near Avon Lake, where Union Pacific Railroad cars have periodically blocked access to the neighborhood’s only road for years. The Brasels say the problem worsened when the Nebraska-based railroad built the Wind 2 Rail distribution center in 2017.

Election officials in Adams County said Monday, that Absentee Ballots are now available for voting in the Adams County Special Election to be held on April 9, 2019.  Only voters who live in the 5th Precinct are eligible to vote in the election.  The polling place is the Prescott City Hall/Library with polling hours on April 9th from 7 AM until 9 PM.

Absentee Voting will be available at the Auditor’s Office at the Adams County Courthouse at 500 9th Street, Corning, IA 50841.  Ballots may be voted there 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM, Monday-Friday until April 8th when the office will be open until 5 PM.

Voter Pre-Registration Deadline:  The last day to pre-register at the Auditor’s Office for this election is this Friday, March 29 before 5:00 PM. Voter registration forms may also be found at www.sos.iowa.gov.  Following the deadline and on Election Day, any new voter and any voter who has moved from outside the county will be processed using the requirements of Election Day Registration and must provide proof of residence and identity.

Election Day Registration. A person who is eligible to register to vote may do so on Election Day at the polling place for the precinct in which the person lives. The person must complete a voter registration form, sign an oath, and provide acceptable proof of both identity and residence. The most common example of an acceptable form of identity and residence is an Iowa driver’s license that is not expired and shows the person’s address on Election Day. Other acceptable forms of identity may be found at www.sos.iowa.gov.

Voting at the Polls:  All voters are required to provide an approved form of identification at the polling place before they may receive and cast a ballot.  Voters who are not pre-registered or voters changing precincts must also provide proof of residence.  Any voter who cannot show ID may have their identity attested to by another registered voter in the precinct who has proper ID.

For more information about voter ID, visit http://sos.iowa.gov/voterid or call 641-322-3340. Questions may be directed to the Auditor’s Office; our telephone number is 641-322-3340 or our email address is: acaudit@adamscountyia.com .  I will be out of the office for the next week so please direct your questions to the Adams County Auditor, Rebecca Bissell.  Her email is listed above.

(Radio Iowa) — One of the governor’s top aides is in southwest Iowa today (Monday) meeting with local officials to discuss how to repair the levees that have been breached by Missouri River flooding. Governor Kim Reynolds says she’s aiming for a regional approach to the flood disaster.

“We’re working to collectively get together with Governor Rickets as well as Governor Parsons, especially as we move forward with the levee repair and recovery,” Reynolds says. “We don’t have a lot of time. We’ve got to figure out how we do this differently.” According to the National Weather Service, high flood waters have returned in Montana, the Dakotas and northwest Nebraska along smaller rivers that feed into the Missouri.

Reynolds announced last week that every Missouri River levee from Council Bluffs to the Missouri border had been compromised. “We can’t wait ’til the river goes below flood stage because we haven’t started the snow melt and we certainly haven’t started the spring rains,” Reynolds says. “…At what point do we get in there and try to tackle this?” An overflow crowd gathered in Sidney Sunday to hear directly from local officials who’ve been evaluating flood damage.

Fremont County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Crecelius said he didn’t want to sugarcoat the situation. “There’s no way under God’s blue skies that the Corps of Engineers is going to be able to repair every breach in every levee from Missouri Valley to St. Joe before the spring thaw,” he said. “I need to say that to you folks. We’re going to have problems out there this spring, this summer, this fall.” Crecelius asked motorists and pedestrians to stay off the levees.

With previously-evacuated areas of the county still off limits and some county roads underwater, Crecelius urged residents not to drive around or remove barricades, or venture into flooded territory. “If you were evacuated and the evacuation order has not been lifted, there’s a reason for that,” he said. “…We have had one fatality and it wasn’t one of the local folks. It was someone who was traveling through here and they decided to go around a ‘Road Closed’ sign and they ran into water. We put the signs up for your safety.”

Shelters for flood victims in Fremont County remain open at the United Faith Church in Sidney and Shenandoah’s Old Armory. The governor submitted paperwork to the Federal Emergency Management Agency indicating it would cost 525 MILLION dollars to fix the river levees in southwest Iowa.

Deputies with the Page County Sheriff’s Office, Sunday, arrested 42-year old Jeffrey Wade Bartles, of rural Coin, for Driving while Barred/Habitual Offender. Bartles was arrested in Shambaugh as a result of a traffic stop conducted by the Page County Sheriff’s Office. He was transported to the Page County Jail. Bartles later posted $2,000 bond, and was released pending future court proceedings.

DES MOINES – Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds’ office has released information to help Iowans impacted by the recent flood. Applying for assistance to recover from the recent flooding in Iowa is easy and can be done via phone or online.

Call  – Call 1-800-621-3362. You can call between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m., seven days a week. People who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability and use a TTY, can call 800-462-7585.

Go Online – Go online to disasterassistance.gov. You can apply online 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

When you apply by phone or online, you’ll be walked through the kinds of assistance that are available and what you need to do to apply.  You’ll also be assigned a case manager to help you navigate the process.

As of today (Monday), residents in Fremont, Harrison, Mills, Monona, and Woodbury counties have been included in a Presidential Disaster Declaration, making their citizens eligible to apply for this assistance. However, if you’ve been impacted  by the recent flooding and you don’t  live in one of those counties, register anyway. By doing this, you could help the citizens in your county become eligible for assistance.

Who can apply? Anyone impacted by the flooding that started in Iowa on March 13.

WESTERN IOWA — DNR conservation officers and park rangers have responded in droves providing crucial equipment and fulfilling extraordinary public safety rescue missions.

Since Thursday, March 14, more than 34 DNR conservation officers and two DNR park rangers from across the state have responded to western and southwestern Iowa, working collaboratively in two-officer teams per boat from dawn to dusk. Those officers have performed rescue missions via DNR boats saving 31 people, 17 dogs, 9 cats, and one iguana.

Notable stories from the field:

• On March 14, DNR conservation officer and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services refuge officer responded by boat to rescue two non-ambulatory people trapped in their home by the floodwaters in Missouri Valley. Working with other emergency personnel, the officers broke out the window to the room where the victims were located to find both victims suffering from severe hypothermia and going in and out of consciousness.  During the rescue mission, the officers were faced with high winds and dangerous whitecaps making the rescue much more difficult.  Both people were rescued and taken to a local hospital and survived.
• On March 16, DNR conservation officers responded to Riverton to rescue two people trapped by the floodwaters after they drove around road closed barriers and their vehicle took on flood waters. One man had climbed a tree to escape the water and was clinging to it when officers arrived to rescued him. He was suffering from severe hypothermia and was transported to a hospital for treatment and survived. While trying to rescue the other man, officers held his head above the 34-degree water for nearly 40 minutes. The man received emergency medical attention but died on the way to the hospital.
• Other critical public safety missions provided so far by the DNR officers include transporting Mid-American Energy officials around towns and areas inundated by flood waters to shut down electricity, transporting other officials with assessing damage to public facilities and water treatment plants, assisting emergency management officials with assessing damage to levees and other infrastructure, as well as DOT with assessing structural integrity of I-680 bridges.

The DNR will continue to assist officials with equipment and public safety critical missions as well as provide expertise and resources as the focus eventually turns to clean-up and rebuilding.

HAMBURG, Iowa – A do not use advisory is currently in place in Hamburg advising residents to only use the water to flush toilets and avoid all other uses of the water. Over the weekend, DNR staff assisted the City of Hamburg in sampling an emergency test well that was recently drilled with hopes of getting an emergency well finished later this week to provide water pressure until the Hamburg water treatment plant can be repaired from the flood damage. At this time, the quality of the water from that emergency well is unknown; therefore, residents are urged to avoid use under the “do not use” advisory.

Residents of Glenwood are urged to continue conserving water, although residents should boil the water and use only for basic needs. Water continues to be transported in from Shenandoah and Red Oak to maintain pressure of the system and an emergency well is currently under construction. In the meantime, residents are urged to delay use of washing machines, dish washers, and other uses so that the system can maintain treatment.