Home Local News IOWA NATIONAL GUARD SOLDIERS HELP WITH DISASTER CLEAN UP

IOWA NATIONAL GUARD SOLDIERS HELP WITH DISASTER CLEAN UP

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More than 200 Iowa National Guard soldiers in Cedar Rapids removed more than two million pounds of debris from 68 city blocks since Friday. Governor Kim Reynolds says a total of 49-hundred utility employees, D-O-T workers and soldiers have been working on restoring power and most of them have been working in the Linn County area.

Reynolds and the administrator of FEMA — the Federal Emergency Management Agency — toured Cedar Rapids Monday afternoon, then spoke with reporters.

Reynolds praised President Trump for approving her request for federal help to deal with the disaster. The governor said she waited until Sunday to submit the request in order to collect aerial and photo evidence of the destruction and ensure the federal help would apply as broadly as possible to those impacted by the storm. Critics say Reynolds should have asked for federal coordination sooner to deal initially with the debris that blocked access to downed power lines, then added to her request for federal assistance.