Progress in Sioux Rapids

Wednesday was the fifth day of the marathon struggle against floodwaters in Sioux Rapids and it was a day when people were getting tired.

All the cars at Sioux Rapids Auto are unsalvageable, said owner Alan Schaeler. They had been submerged and had muddy waterlines up their sides, some over the hood, to prove it. Time spent talking meant less time rescuing his tools which are beginning to rust in the muck.

Next door, and one of the hardest hit, was Hondo’s Sales and Service along Hwy. 71. Water stood five feet high in his shop Sunday.

It went down Monday and Tuesday a bit faster than predicted. Hwy. 71 opened completely Tuesday.

But the mud prevailed, drying in gray crackling chips on sidewalks, floors and Hondo’s mowers.

“It would take mechanical ability to empty the places where the water got in,” he explained. “With a $4,000-$5,000 mower it would take at least $1,000 to fix it.”

A dozen new mowers and some of the used were moved to higher ground before the flooding.

Hondo serves thousands of customers. Their information is lost, the computers ruined.

The shop opened in Sioux Rapids in 2009. A year later spring rain brought flood waters six inches from the door. It’s Hondo’s only memory of previous flooding.

“I don’t think it was in anybody’s imagination that it could be this bad,” he said considering this year’s situation.

“I don’t know if the business is salvageable,” he remarked soberly.

He contacted his insurance agent at United Fire and Casualty. He was told it was “unlikely” he would be covered for flood damage.

Not in the flood plain

“Why would you buy flood insurance?”said Buena Vista County Emergency Management Agency Coordinator Aimee Barritt regarding the Sioux Rapids property owners. “It’s not in a flood plain. This was an historic flood. It was five feet over the highest flood level ever.” Barritt operates from the BVCEMA trailer onsite in Sioux Rapids.

Without insurance, those with losses are hoping for FEMA assistance. They were informed of the details at a town meeting Tuesday night at First Lutheran Church. The pews were packed.

Twelve people from the City of Storm Lake were quickly trained Wednesday morning to help with damage assessments. They arrived in Sioux Rapids well before noon going door to door. They conducted interviews and handled paperwork, all necessary for federal assistance.

Former U.S. Representative Steve King was also in town visiting with residents.

Some people blamed weather forecasters — USGS in particular —  for underestimating the magnitude of the flood, but Barritt said, “I don’t think that’s fair. You have 18 inches of rain in a very short time (in northern Iowa and southern Minnesota). Some of the stream gauges were submerged. They didn’t know where the water was.”

Sticking together

Multiple businesses on the east end of Main Street were red-tagged. Owners couldn’t get in until the buildings were inspected. The floors had collapsed at Rice & Lehr Insurance and next door at Salon on Main. Water remained in basements.

“Anything way up high can be saved,” said Deb Robert, who along with her “better half” Jim Wise own Wise Antiques in four buildings badly flooded on Main Street. “Over 100 people said, ‘Could I help?’” she remarked.

“We all stick together,” said Laurie Tewes, who was visiting with Deb. Laurie owns Country Clutter in a small shop next to Wise Antiques. Because her building doesn’t have a basement, it wasn’t red-tagged.

Inside, decor items were covered in a thin layer of dirt. Her scented candles covered up the smell of stagnant water that prevailed elsewhere.

“I have dips and beer bread in there.” She pointed to an upper shelf in the next room. “I can’t sell that.”

She plans to reopen.

A representative from Plains Area Mental Health Center, Stacy Neagles, was onsite. She was one of the presenters at Tuesday night’s town meeting. “Being irritable is completely normal,” she said of those not in the best of spirits Wednesday. “You’re grieving, you have survivor’s guilt, you have a business that might not reopen.”

Her agency’s mental health service is available to anyone needing it.

Barritt said Sioux Rapids should be proud of the progress so far in the Valley of Beauty — or VOB — the town’s nickname for itself. “The fire department, the city council, all the volunteers. If you had seen what it was like over the weekend, It’s amazing what they’ve accomplished.”