(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Valley Business Park Board held a sale for the land at the Cass County Community Center, Thursday. The property sold for $16,000 per acre. The Board made the decision to sell the property back in October, 2021. The Park contains 156 acres of property located at the intersection of I-80 and Highway 71 in both Cass County and Audubon Counties. Iowa Land Co handled the auction.

Valley Business Park aerial outline (Via Atlanticiowa.com/cadco)

(Audubon, Iowa) Officials with the Audubon County Emergency Management Agency, Thursday, released a statement with regard to damage from Wednesday’s storm. Mike Jensen, Emergency Management Coordinator, said “The Audubon County Emergency Management, Audubon County Sheriff’s Office and several local officials spent the morning conducting total property damage assessments over most of the County. The Audubon County Secondary Roads Department is working today [Thursday] to clear debris from the roadways and reopen the roads.

“The impact of last night’s (Wednesday night’s) storms,” Jensen said, resulted in damage primarily to out buildings and downed trees. Damage ranging from moderate to total losses were noted. While we had damage throughout the county, the primary storm system path has been identified to be from south and west of Brayton, taking a northeasterly path crossing Highway 71 just north of Exira, and proceeding on to the northeast and east central portions of the county.”

Jensen concluded by saying “Audubon County Emergency Management is taking pro-active measures working with State officials, with regard to any forthcoming declarations.” He added, “If you (the citizens of Audubon County) have any further damages, please contact Emergency Management at 712-563-3483.

The Montgomery County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) has posted photos of the damage from Wednesday’s storms. Director Brian Hamman said on social media, “Storm damage from last nights storm and wind event seems to be sporadic throughout the county this morning. While there is some considerable tree and out building damage around, widespread damage is limited compared to some of our neighboring counties and communities. If you have damage and would like to post pictures, please do.

“A December severe weather event,” Hamman said, and ” is extremely rare and unprecedented in our area and I applaud all of our communities, business partners, local media and first responders for stepping up throughout the day to get the word out and to be prepared for what could have and eventually did happened. Please continue to use caution if you’re out and driving as there is still downed trees and power lines throughout the county. Public works and utility companies are out and doing their best to restore power and cleanup debris.”

DES MOINES, Iowa – Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, Thursday (Today) issued a disaster proclamation for 43 counties in response to Iowa’s Dec. 15 severe weather.  The governor’s proclamation allows state resources to be utilized to respond to and recover from the effects of this severe weather and activates the Iowa Individual Assistance Grant Program for qualifying residents, along with the Disaster Case Management Program, for the following counties: Allamakee, Appanoose, Audubon, Bremer, Buena Vista, Butler, Calhoun, Cass, Cerro Gordo, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Davis, Fayette, Floyd, Greene, Guthrie, Hamilton, Hancock, Hardin, Harrison, Howard, Ida, Kossuth, Lucas, Madison, Marshall, Mills, Mitchell, Monroe, Montgomery, O’Brien, Page, Pottawattamie, Ringgold, Sac, Shelby, Union, Washington, Webster, Winnebago, Winneshiek, Wright, and Worth.

The Iowa Individual Assistance Grant Program provides grants of up to $5,000 for households with incomes up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level. Grants are available for home or car repairs, replacement of clothing or food, and temporary housing expenses. Original receipts are required for those seeking reimbursement for actual expenses related to storm recovery. The grant application and instructions are available on the Iowa Department of Human Services website at https://dhs.iowa.gov/disaster-assistance-programs. Potential applicants have 45 days from the date of the proclamation to submit a claim.

The Disaster Case Management Program addresses serious needs related to disaster-related hardship, injury, or adverse conditions. Disaster case managers work with clients to create a disaster recovery plan and provide guidance, advice, and referral to obtain a service or resource. There are no income eligibility requirements for this program; it closes 180 days from the date of the governor’s proclamation. For information on the Disaster Case Management Program, contact your local community action association or visit www.iowacommunityaction.org.

The proclamation also temporarily suspends regulatory provisions of the Iowa Code that pertain to procurement of goods and services, hours of service for disaster repair crews, and various requirements for the transportation of loads related to disaster repairs.  Residents of counties impacted by the recent severe weather are asked to report damage to help local and state officials better understand the damage sustained. Damage to property, roads, utilities and other storm-related information may be reported. This information will be collected by the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management and shared with local emergency management agencies.

Damage may be reported at www.homelandsecurity.iowa.gov.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s utilities will need a few days to get electricity restored to everyone after the powerful storm system that raked across the entire state last (Wednesday) night, packing winds approaching 90 miles an hour. Tina Hoffman, spokeswoman for MidAmerican Energy, says repair crews responded after the first outages were reported, braving the severe weather to get people back online. “We had nearly 50,000 customers at the peak experiencing an outage,” Hoffman says. “Despite really challenging working conditions overnight, our crews were able to make great progress and we’ve been able to restore over 30,000 customers just in the overnight hours.”

At least five tornadoes are confirmed to have touched down in the state during the storm and as many as 150-thousand customers statewide lost power. Hoffman says damage to MidAmerican’s power infrastructure will take time to repair — or replace. “Transmission lines and distribution lines were both affected. Those transmission lines feed the distribution lines, so in some areas it will take longer to get some of those customers on,” Hoffman says. “We’ve got all hands on deck. We’re calling in additional crews, even from neighboring utilities and we’ll be working 24-7.”

Fort Dodge and the surrounding area have significant storm damage, according to Hoffman, and some residents there may not see the power restored until Saturday morning. Also, the Council Bluffs area was hard hit by the strong, straight line winds. “We’re estimating that we’ll be able to restore most customers in that area by midnight tonight but some could take as long as 6 PM on Saturday,” Hoffman says. “Those are going to be a long few days for those folks in that area. Lots of poles that we’ll need to replace and really get in there and make some major repairs in that area.”

As Iowans survey the damage, Hoffman makes two requests of customers. “First and foremost, it’s very important to stay away from any downed lines you might see. Assume they’re energized. Don’t go near them and call us right away,” Hoffman says. “Second, if you have an outage, report it to us and we’ll get out there as quickly and as safely as we can.”

As of mid-morning, Thursday, Alliant Energy was reporting more than 27-thousand of its customers were still without power in Iowa and Wisconsin.

(Radio Iowa) – The clean-up process is underway in the north central community of Rudd, as an apparent tornado caused major damage on Wednesday night. Floyd County’s emergency management director Drew Mitchell says the storm went straight through the middle of town.  “It went from the south part of town up through the north. It heavily damaged some buildings, knocked down a lot of power lines and trees, stuff like that. It did damage to the water treatment plant. I know the city of Rudd will be without water and power for a few days,” according to Mitchell. Mitchell says despite the destruction there have not been any injuries reported. He says the town is already in a cleanup mode.

“The big thing is is cleanup to begin with, because there is a lot of debris, a lot of power lines down. The power lines will be taken care of by the fire department and the energy company. But cleanup is the big thing, there’s a lot of wood and stuff like that laying around town,” he says. Mitchell says people who want to volunteer as part of the cleanup effort are welcome to come to Rudd, but if you are not helping, they are asking that you stay away.

Anyone willing to help with the cleanup is asked to report to the Rudd Fire Department. The Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock school building is open for those needing showers, warmth, and meals. A team from the National Weather Service office in LaCrosse will be in Rudd today to survey the storm.

[COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA] – Emergency Management officials in Pottawattamie County today (Thursday) confirmed one tornado touchdown from yesterday’s (Wednesday’s) storms along the I-80 corridor between Council Bluffs and Neola. They will be working today to validate a likely second tornado that occurred in eastern Pottawattamie County and a swath of likely straight-line wind damages in southcentral Pottawattamie County.

The Agency is requesting assistance from the public to help confirm the severity of the events that occurred. Residents or businesses that have experience property damages related to the storm should report them on the EMA’s website at https://pcema-ia.org/. Damage assessments help officials validate and justify any potential assistance programs for those that may have unmet needs and it also contributes to the data needed to support a statewide disaster declaration if the impacts require federal recovery assistance for individuals and local governments.

Pottawattamie County EMA has submitted a request to the Governor’s Office for activation of the Iowa Individual Assistance Program and Disaster Case Management Programs to assist low-income families in their recovery. If approved, more information will be provide through local media, social media, and the emergency management website. The damage assessment survey is an easy to use online interface from any device and also allows you to submit pictures of your damage to help in the overall recovery process.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – Officials with the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office today (Thursday), report three arrests:

• 33-year-old Robert Michael Carter was arrested Tuesday, in Walnut, on a warrant for Violation of Probation.
• 38-year-old Nicholas Richard Schumacker, of Winterset, was arrested Wednesday, following an investigation into an injury accident at Highway 92 and 290th Street. He was taken into custody for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and Poss. of a Controlled Substance/1st offense. Bond on those charges amounts to $1,300.
• And, Wednesday afternoon, an inmate at the Pott. County Jail was presented with a warrant for Violation of Probation. 49-year-old Brad Randall Webster, of Council Bluffs, was returned to the custody of Corrections staff and then returned to his cell, after being read the warrant.

DES MOINES – The Iowa Finance Authority and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources Thursday (today) announced that 30 municipalities with current State Revolving Fund loans for water quality projects, will save a total of more than $7.6 million in interest over the remaining life of their loans as a result of their interest rate being reduced from 3% to 1.75%. Among the communities, is Atlantic and Bedford. Atlantic will realize a savings of $922,300. Bedford’s savings amounts to $70,25.

The State Revolving Fund is one of Iowa’s primary sources for financing projects designed to improve Iowa’s water quality. Two funds, one for drinking water and one for wastewater and pollution control, have provided low-cost financing to projects in nearly 700 Iowa communities in addition to farmers, watershed groups and others for water quality projects. The program is jointly administered by the Iowa Finance Authority and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Iowa Finance Authority Executive Director Debi Durham says “This rate reduction is possible due to the success of the State Revolving Fund and excellent financial management.”

Durham said also, “The State Revolving Fund has saved Iowa communities a total of nearly $50 million in interest payments through interest rate reductions for loans that are more than ten years old. This is $50 million that municipalities have been able to invest in other priorities to create opportunities for their residents, community and businesses to thrive.”  Besides offering communities low interest rates to finance water infrastructure projects, the State Revolving Fund offers other benefits, such as lower up-front costs and no reserve requirement.

For more information on the State Revolving Loan program, visit IowaSRF.com.