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ANX News Video
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| Davenport, Iowa sees the worst flooding in decades. (2:22) |
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• FEMA Funds Cut
• Global Warming to Bring Fewer, Stronger Storms
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Private and federal aid trickling in
DAVENPORT, IA — Iowa's governor today declared three more counties disaster areas, preparing the way for the federal government to begin relief efforts and to provide immediate cash support to home and business owners in the rain-ravaged state.
FEMA administrators told ANX today that truckloads of relief supplies are being staged in neighboring states, and would be sent into the affected areas as soon as roads are passable.
"We learned some hard lessons dring Katrina. We've realized that when roads are under water, we can use the water as a road," said a highly-placed anonymous source within the organization. "Our standard operating procedures were in serious need of rewriting, and that storm rewrote them for us."
Now, FEMA has on call at least two dozen amphibious vehicles — "ducks" — belonging to Army National Guard units
in several states. These vehicles and a small fleet of flat-bottom boats are being dispached right now to Iowa and surrounding states.
"These boats and ducks may not have as much capacity as the tractor-trailers, but they can spearhead the process and bring quick relief to the worst-damaged areas. Sometimes speed can be more important than volume."
Iowa's governor has toured the affected towns by helicopter, and has set up a command post in a FEMA communications trailer at the water's edge. As the flood water recedes, the plan is to move the post closer to the areas where aid is needed the most.
In the meantime, thousands of families are hunkering down in emergency shelters scattered across five states, and many refugees have taken up temporary residence with friends and family across the country.
James DeSchanzamin, former FEMA administrator and professor of Civil Engineering at Sandalman University, has taken leave of his teaching position and is serving as a volunteer with the 203d Battalion of the Army Corps of Engineers. In an interview late yesterday, DeSchanzamin took a philosophical view of the emergency.
"It's like Katrina all over again... the kind of diaspora that we generally don't see in a developed country. But now it's happened twice within a few years. It makes you wonder what's in store for us if we don't take action against global warming, right now."
ANX's Bob West contributed to this report.
Copyright 2007 ANX. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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