Emergency Management directors from several Iowa counties hit hard by this year’s flooding are preparing to lay out a plan in case more floodwaters strike again this spring.
“I expect to be doing this all over again next spring,” said Mike Crecelius, Fremont County Emergency Management Director told 6 News.
Crecelius and his counterparts are joining forces at the request of Homeland Security. “When the Corps of Engineers had their meeting in Nebraska City they stood up there and told us exactly that, to expect more spring flooding next year,” Crecelius says.
The directors will be taking a look at what happened this spring and how they can better be better prepared with sandbags, generators, and pumps.
“What we needed this year that we can have in place next spring so we don't have to haul it in from so far away,” Crecelius said.
He says the major items are pretty simple. It's just a matter of making sure they're in the counties and towns they need to be. These are also items flood victims like Janice Chaney have become all too familiar with. She and her husband have been living in an RV for months while repairing their home in Percival, Iowa.
“It's been a project, let me tell ya'," Chaney told 6 News. "It's been a long, long haul.".
The Chaney's know there's a good chance floodwaters will hit their home again in the spring. Still, returning was their only option financially.
“We don't have another place to go," she says. "This is our home, and it's paid for. You know, we're not young people anymore, so we have to stay here."
(Photo: 6 News)