President Donald Trump approved a disaster declaration for Iowa yesterday morning, and FEMA officials toured damage in Cedar Rapids yesterday afternoon. FEMA director Peter Gaynor, who spoke at a news conference in Cedar Rapids yesterday afternoon, said he would not compare the situation to other disasters he has dealt with because each is different and is catastrophic for each person involved. Gov. Kim Reynolds submitted the official request for just under four billion dollars in aid Sunday, and it was approved in less than 24 hours. The president himself will tour derecho-damaged areas of Iowa later today.
Thousands of people in Cedar Rapids and areas along U.S. Highway 30 remain without power and necessities in the aftermath of the massive wind storm which moved through eight days ago. Today at Young Arena between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., the Waterloo Black Hawks will collect donations of materials, which will be promptly delivered to the storm relief effort in Linn County.
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Yesterday, President Donald Trump approved a disaster declaration for the four billion dollars of loss suffered by Iowa in last week’s storm…today, he will be in Cedar Rapids to tour damage and meet with Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds to discuss local, state and federal response to the disaster. At a news briefing in Cedar Rapids yesterday, the governor addressed concerns about the speed of the federal response, noting that staff members worked around the clock to submit a complete application, leaving local officials to be focused on clean up and power restoration.
While thousands spent an eighth night without power last night, there is progress being made…but according to Rod Pritchard of ITC Midwest, the company providing feeder electrical lines to Alliant Energy, the scope of damage was unprecedented as the storm was 40 miles wide and 100 miles long.
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Cleanup efforts by Iowa National Guard members continue, with soldiers and airmen assisting in various roles around eastern Iowa. Some 200 members from the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 734th Regional Support Group, and the 185th Air Refueling Wing had been mobilized to the Cedar Rapids area. The personnel have been using dump trucks, excavators, backhoes, skid loaders, and chainsaws to assist local authorities in clearing debris. Guard members have removed around 2.25 million pounds of debris so far, clearing around 68 city blocks. The focus has been on clearing areas near roads and power lines. Aid from the guard is being coordinated through local emergency management agencies.
Restoring power is not as easy as simply reconnecting downed lines…hundreds of poles need to be replaced in the wake of a storm that we now know had top winds of 130 miles per hour. But according to Rod Pritchard of ITC Midwest, the company providing energy to Alliant and other distributors, they were well stocked with materials close by, including hundreds of wooden poles manufactured in Waterloo, which was not affected by the storm.
