Local volunteers help residents fill and position sandbags to protect their homes from the rising Iowa River. Photo: Greg Henshall, FEMA

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance continues its response to the Iowa flooding with financial support and personnel.

Three additional members of the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance National Response Team, Marian MacNeill, Joe Bishop and Rob Moreland have joined Don Hampton to help with the disaster response in Iowa.

Iowa has received abnormal moisture over the last seven months, with a difficult winter bringing above-average amounts of snow followed by a very wet spring.  Following the tornadoes that struck North Central Iowa on May 25, the state began to receive very heavy wide spread rains.  The floods that have resulted are historical in several areas of Iowa. Flooding has begun to recede in Des Moines, Mason City, Cedar Falls, Waterloo, Waverly, Cedar Rapids and Iowa City.  Southeastern Iowa is still to receive the full impact as the water flows toward the Mississippi River. 

Major flooding has occurred in many smaller cities along the Raccoon, Skunk, Des Moines, Cedar, Iowa and Wapsipinicon Rivers.  Thousands of homes and businesses have been impacted; 83 of Iowa’s 99 counties have been declared state disaster areas, and 23 counties have been declared federal disaster areas.  Loss to homes, businesses and agriculture will be counted in the billions of dollars.

Some communities have begun to clean up; for others, it will be weeks before they can start the process.  Long Term Recovery Committees will begin to organize within the next couple of weeks.

NRT members are working with the three presbyteries officed in Iowa — Des Moines, North Central Iowa and East Iowa — and with the surrounding presbyteries of John Knox, Missouri River Valley and Prospect Hill, as they work in helping affected communities meet the staggering needs of finances, volunteers, clean up items, personal care items and emotional and spiritual care.