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Support lifts flood victims in a small Iowa town, with some limitations

A man smiling with a grey beard and glasses is standing in front of huge sign that says "Welcome To Correctionville." Main street is behind him and purple flowers are under the sign. The man is wearing a blue sweatshirt and Cubs baseball hat.
Sheila Brummer
/
Iowa Public Radio
Ken Bauer took over as Correctionville Mayor in 2024, and faced a significant challenge of historic flooding after taking office. "We were pretty much back on our feet within a month of the day — you could hardly tell anything was wrong, except for piles over at the co-op," he said.

The Little Sioux River reached unprecedented levels in late June, forcing the evacuation of several residents of Correctionville. More than three months later, some in the northwest Iowa community continue to seek assistance.

When the Little Sioux River hit record levels, half of Correctionville’s 300 homes ended up with some damage — including Mayor Ken Bauer’s.

“It was a nightmare. I was just mayor for six months when the flood happened,” Bauer said. “For three days, they kept saying, 'Well, it will only get to here. It'll only get to there.' And it kept going — and it kept going.”

About four inches of sewage invaded Bauer’s basement.

“Well, thankfully, my kids got it all cleaned up for me when I was working at City Hall,” Bauer said.

After the initial shock, Bauer said his town pulled together for the main clean-up that took about a month.

“We did much better than many other towns,” Bauer said. “We had a lot of small towns around here help out. They put down their hammers, axes, their grudges and were willing to come — and we would do the same for them.”

Help for flood victims

The focus turned to recovery. Woodbury County’s Long-Term Recovery Group held a multi-agency resource center at Correctionville's Community Center on Tuesday. Flood victims met face-to-face with FEMA representatives and several nonprofits, including the Red Cross, Salvation Army, Community Action Agency, Catholic Charities and Iowa Legal Aid.

“Iowans are resilient,” said Ray Villarreal, Iowa Legal Aid grants administrator and outreach coordinator. “Just seeing folks navigating the hardest moment of their life, whether they rent or own, and just seeing the resiliency of powering through and saying, ‘Hey, there's somewhere else to go from here.’ They just rise to the occasion.”

Iowa Legal Aid can assist with crises that pop up after a natural disaster — ranging from FEMA denials, insurance claims, contractor fraud, landlord-tenant disputes, unemployment benefits and other financial issues.

“If you fall behind financially, creditors might come after you. You might be facing garnishment or losses because of your debt," Villarreal said. "So again, those are things that we want people to give us a call for. Sometimes it's information overload, so we're just here to help try to calm nerves and help them redirect into the resources.”

A man with glasses and holding a paper is standing in front of an big RV that says Iowa Legal Aid. The RV is different shades of blue with a white image of the state of Iowa. The man is wearing a black jacket and grey pants and has a big smile on his face.
Sheila Brummer
/
Iowa Public Radio
Ray Villarreal of Iowa Legal Aid stands in front of the "Justice Bus." Villarreal attended 21 events since April to focus on disaster response and rural outreach. Iowa Legal Aid aims to provide confidential, accessible legal services to those in need. "I've helped drive the bus and be involved where there's been tornadoes or the flooding that have occurred — we're happy to be part of the multi-agency resource centers that the county emergency management put on."

Assessing the damage

A man is smiling with an American flag on a stand to left. He is wearing a black hoodie that says Emergency Management Northwest Iowa.
Sheila Brummer
/
Iowa Public Radio
Michael Montino is emergency management director for Woodbury County.

Woodbury County Emergency Management Director Mike Montino said officials are still trying to calculate damages countywide. Besides Correctionville, flooding impacted another 150 homes in Sioux City’s Riverside neighborhood and 30 properties in the tiny town of Smithland located downstream along the Little Sioux River.

“Those numbers are still coming together,” Montino said. “I would guess, probably in the coming weeks to coming months, we should have more of a defined amount as some of the invoices and repair costs come in, particularly from the public infrastructure side.”

Montino said Iowa was very fortunate to get state and federal aid activated quickly — plus the outreach of local entities.

“And I think what I really want to say here is just how proud I am, particularly our community members, our nonprofits and our government organizations for pooling together and putting forth the effort that they did as part of the response and recovery process,” Montino said.

Flood victims find limitations with FEMA assistance

Even with support and funding, not everyone will recoup their losses, including Correctionville’s own mayor.

“We got some money from FEMA, and it didn't cover it all. We also had sewage insurance and it still didn't cover all of it,” Mayor Baurer said. "I kept telling people, don't expect them to make you be 100% because that's not what they're here to do. They'll help you barely back on your feet, and that's it. So I knew what to expect — but there were a lot of disappointed people."

The deadline to apply for FEMA assistance in Woodbury and 14 other western Iowa counties is Oct. 22.

Sheila Brummer joined the staff of Iowa Public Radio as Western Iowa Reporter in August of 2023. She knows the area well, after growing up on a farm in Crawford County, graduating from Morningside University in Sioux City and working in local media.