Iowa’s former secretary of agriculture has come back to the state to survey flood damage and talk to displaced residents, especially farmers who have had many hundreds of acres underwater.
Bill Northey, now an undersecretary at the U-S-D-A, says it was “mind-boggling” to tour the disaster areas of water-logged southwest Iowa and northwest Missouri on Thursday.
OC……….”right now” :17
Northey and Senator Chuck Grassley held a town hall meeting at the Mills County Fairgrounds in Hamburg this (Friday) afternoon.
Northey says he worries a wrecked levee system along the Missouri River is leaving the area vulnerable to more flooding, perhaps very soon.
He says he knows fields are unprotected, as farmers wait for the water to recede.
OC………..better as well. :16
Northey says he’s overwhelmed by the scope of the damage he’s witnessing in the region, noting, flooding is always devastating but he wasn’t prepared for this.
OC………some planting done. :13
Northey says he has two messages for his boss, U-S Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue. First, farmers need help to recover — now, and second, changes are needed in how the Missouri River is managed to prevent another repeat.
