By Cheril Lee
Omaha, NE – Starting next Wednesday, teams from FEMA, Homeland Security and the Small Business Administration will begin assessments for individual assistance in five Iowa counties.
Joyce Flinn, of the Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, says the teams will look at actual structural damage to homes and residential property. They'll tour Fremont, Mills, Pottawattamie, Monona and Harrison counties. She says the assessments will have to be made from the air because many of the affected homes are inundated with water, "There are different degrees of damage. And if a home sits in a lot of water for a couple of months, regardless if it's got 8-feet of water or 3-feet of water, it's probably going to be pretty much destroyed. So there are some different dynamics there with doing this assessment, but that will begin in 5 of the counties on July 6th."
Flinn reminds residents to secure heating and propane tanks to prevent tanks from floating away, potentially causing environmental problems. Flood updates are available at governor.iowa.gov.