The Worth County Commission took stock of damage from last Tuesday’s storms as well as the flash flooding in Texas that claimed 100 lives as of Tuesday afternoon.
Emergency Management Director Abby Hawk reported that the county had been planning an actual live exercise at the Worth County Care & Rehab regarding evacuation and treatment of residents in case of flooding, and that it became an actual exercise when the ground level flooded during last Tuesday’s storms.
Ms. Hawk did not think that the county would become a disaster area. The state threshold for declaring disasters is $6.5 million, with the storms hitting only Worth, Harrison, and Gentry counties. The storm hit Iowa much harder, with Ellston getting 9 inches and Mount Ayr getting 6 inches.
She said one possible takeaway from the flash flood in Texas might be putting the county on Code Red, which Atchison County has and which alerts all cell phone users in a given territory regarding severe weather whether they have signed up for it or not. Currently, there are 357 people signed up for the Worth County Textcaster.
Road & Bridge Foreman Jim Fletchall reported that one landowner north of Oxford needed an 8 foot tube that is 40 feet long to replace one washed out by last Tuesday’s storms. They are landlocked without road access. Around one fourth to one third of county roads went bad, Mr. Fletchall reported. Commissioner Tyler Paxson reported there was water running over his road.
The Norris Quarry ran out of rock, forcing the county to get its rock from Bethany. The next nearest quarry is in Barnard.
The creek underneath the 130th and 140th road bridge was full, with wood running everywhere.
The air conditioner on the white truck quit.
Discussion was held on ways of improving ditching. Currently, the county has two workers tied up hauling rock.
The target date for completion of the Route M bridge near Denver and the subsequent closure of 169 south of Grant City is the end of July.
Commissioner Paxson, who is also the Sheridan Fire Department Chief, gave the county permission to use a fire truck that they don’t use to water down roads in response to dust complaints.
Treasurer Stephanie Hardy presented the semiannual financial report for the county. The ARPA fund was zeroed out. Some of the officers have invested in the MOSIP fund, which yields 4.25% interest.
More information was learned about the Nodaway County Senior Citizen tax break, which was passed by voters there. Around 1,200 people have signed up, and the unintended consequence was that there are now a lot more paperwork requirements for the county, including the reprogramming of software. Eligible taxpayers have to reapply every year and bring appropriate documentation, which creates even more paperwork.
All the county phones are kind of working, but the county has had to improvise following a lightning strike that destroyed several phones and knocked out the elevator. They had to replace four different phones at a cost of $200 each, and the Internet was knocked out downstairs. The event is covered by insurance, but the cost for repairing the phone and Internet system is $6,500 and $16,000 for the elevator. One possible solution was to put a surge protector on the elevator, and discussion was held on protecting the Courthouse from lightning strikes.
The Courthouse does not have a lightning rod; the flagpole would not have helped or hurt. The lightning strike was likely an indirect hit that traveled through the wires and into the Courthouse. Neither a lightning rod nor a surge protector is a 100% foolproof way of stopping a lightning strike. The fact that the lightning took out the phones may have saved the computers from destruction.
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