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Midwest flooding costs increasing, with $1.6B damage in Iowa

Iowa governor says recent flooding has caused an estimated $1.6 billion in damage in the state, as flooding continues in several Midwestern states.

In this March 18, 2019 photo released by the U.S. Air Force, environmental restoration employees deploy a containment boom from a boat on Offutt Air Force Base in Neb., as a precautionary measure for possible fuel leaks in the flooded area. Surging unexpectedly strong and up to 7 feet high, the Missouri River floodwaters that poured on to much the Nebraska air base that houses the U.S. Strategic Command overwhelmed the frantic sandbagging by troops and their scramble to save sensitive equipment, munitions and aircraft.
In this March 18, 2019 photo released by the U.S. Air Force, environmental restoration employees deploy a containment boom from a boat on Offutt Air Force Base in Neb., as a precautionary measure for possible fuel leaks in the flooded area. Surging unexpectedly strong and up to 7 feet high, the Missouri River floodwaters that poured on to much the Nebraska air base that houses the U.S. Strategic Command overwhelmed the frantic sandbagging by troops and their scramble to save sensitive equipment, munitions and aircraft.Read moreDelanie Stafford / AP
    by David Pitt, The Associated Press
    Published 

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said Friday that recent flooding in the state has caused an estimated $1.6 billion in damage, pushing the total costs from the devastating Midwest flooding to at least $3 billion.

The ongoing flooding along the Missouri River has damaged thousands of homes and inundated vast swaths of agricultural land with water in Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri. The flooding, which followed heavy rains and snowmelt this month, has also been blamed for three deaths.

Reynolds said she sent a letter asking President Donald Trump to quickly issue a disaster declaration for 57 counties in Iowa where businesses, homes and levees have been severely impacted by flooding, including along the Missouri River. More counties may be added to the list.

More than 1,200 homes in Iowa have been destroyed or extensively damaged, while another 23,540 have at least minor damage, she said. Cost estimates indicate the flooding has caused more than $480 million in damage to homes, while businesses have suffered $300 million in damage. Agriculture damage is estimated at $214 million.

Flooding in Nebraska has caused an estimated $1.4 billion in damage. The state received Trump's federal disaster assistance approval on Thursday.

About 70 miles (112.7 kilometers) of levees in Iowa operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are damaged or destroyed, and the cost to repair them is estimated at $350 million. About 175 miles (281.6 kilometers) of non-federal agriculture levees also need repair, at an additional cost of $175 million.

"We're just beginning the season, so this isn't something we can think about for two years," Reynolds said. "We need to figure out a way to secure our communities and our farmland and start to repair the agricultural levees and focus on the Corps levees that have been compromised."

Missouri officials have not yet said how much flooding has likely the cost the state.

The Missouri Department of Transportation said Friday that 120 roads were closed because of flooding, including stretches of Interstate 29 and U.S. 61. The National Weather Service said the Missouri River was expected to crest Friday at levels just short of those reached during historic 1993 flooding in Atchison, Kansas, and St. Joseph, Missouri.

About 1,200 residents of the Kansas town of Elwood were urged to leave, and the governor eased restrictions on large vehicles carrying relief supplies. Across the river, parts of an industrial area in St. Joseph were inundated with water.

But no major flooding is forecast downstream in Kansas City, Missouri.

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Associated Press reporter Heather Hollingsworth contributed to this report from Kansas City, Missouri.