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Governor Kim Reynolds is creating a new state board to oversee the response to last month’s catastrophic flooding.
Reynolds said, To move forward, it’s critical that we not only provide funding at the state level but also have a central point of coordination and plan to use the funds.
Reynolds issued an executive order this morning, establishing a 15-member Flood Recovery Advisory Board. She’ll be the board’s chairwoman.
The governor also is asking legislators to set aside $25 million in state funds for flood recovery. The first $15 million would be used for flood mitigation, including help in making levee repairs.
Some southwest Iowa county roads are decimated from last month’s historic flooding.
200th street just north of Percival (Per-SIH-vul) has holes full of water and is not usable. Robbie Kromminga (Croe-MING-gah) is Fremont County’s assistant county engineer.
((0415kromminga 0:10)) Pretty much everything’s gone. The base is gone, all the rock is gone, shoulders are non-existent. The ditch is full of the rock that’s supposed to be on the road. So, a lot of work here.
Kromminga (Croe-MING-gah) says they’ll have to fill all of the holes in the road before people can drive on it again.
The county engineer’s office says all repairs collectively could take months and could cost over $5 million dollars.
Former Democratic Sen. Bob Kerrey says he has decided not to address graduates and their families at a Jesuit college in Omaha because he doesn't want his support for abortion rights to be a distraction.
Kerrey told Creighton University's president, the Rev. Daniel Hendrickson, in a letter that the May 18 commencement "should be a moment of celebration and not disrupted by politics."
