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President Barack Obama has issued a major disaster declaration for eight counties in the state of Iowa, triggering the release of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds to help Iowa recover from the severe storms, straight-line winds and flooding that occurred August 23-27, 2016. Additional designations may be made at a later date after further evaluation.
FEMA will provide assistance to Allamakee, Chickasaw, Clayton, Fayette, Floyd, Howard, Mitchell and Winneshiek counties through the Public Assistance program. In order to request a Presidential Disaster Declaration, damage incurred must meet criteria set by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

by Joe Moses

The Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met in regular session Monday, October 3 to discuss a variety of topics including the manure management plans for five organizations, setting a letting date for a culvert replacement on Oak Hill Road and discussion of a future Allamakee County Disaster Fund. There were no members of the public in attendance during the Public Comments portion of the meeting.

During the Public Comments time, Allamakee County Conservation Director James Janett briefly discussed the ATV/UTV ride that took place in Allamakee County over the weekend. Janett described the event as being a success with the only negative comment from participants being that some of the gravel roads were dusty.

by Joe Moses

The Waukon City Council met in a pair of sessions this past week. Coverage of both the Council's September 27 special session and its October 3 regular session appears below.

SEPTEMBER 27 SPECIAL SESSION
The Waukon City Council met for a special session Tuesday, September 27 to discuss the proposed City Manager position and the Girls Cross Country 5K cancer benefit event, and to review applications for the Assistant Payroll/Assistant Utility Billing Clerk position. Councilman Dwight Jones called the meeting to order in Mayor Duane DeWalle's absence.

Motorists in the Allamakee County area need to be advised that the second annual Bluff Country ATV/UTV Ride is scheduled for this Saturday, October 1, beginning at 9 a.m. and traversing the Allamakee County roadways highlighted in red in the above map. A vast majority of those roadways are County gravel roads, but the ATV/UTV units will occasionally be using the shoulder areas of paved County roads per the ride's special permit authorizing such use. The route begins and ends in Harpers Ferry and briefly uses both X52/Great River Road and X42/Lansing Harpers Road to get to County gravels on its way to Waterville. After another brief paved route on Waterville Road upon its departure from Waterville, the route will then head north and cross A52/Elon Drive at its intersection with Ness Ridge Road and Drake Road in the Elon community.

Students at Waukon High School have selected their Homecoming representatives for 2016, with the coronation of this year's Homecoming Queen and King to take place at the traditional "Burning of the 'W'" pep rally scheduled for this Thursday evening, September 29, beginning at 7 p.m. at Waukon High School. Pictured in the photo above are this year's Waukon High School Homecoming Queen and King candidates from the 2016-2017 Senior class, including: Left to right - Front row: Queen candidates Erika Johnson, Molly Johnson, Lanci Bulman and Claire Beyer. Back row: King candidates Adam Gruman, Logan Sullivan, Max Swartz and Tanner Mathis. Pictured in the photo below, front to back and left to right, are Junior Class attendants Audry Fahey and Terrell Baumler, Sophomore Class attendants Brigid Berns and Brady Sullivan, and Freshman Class attendants Leah Bulman and Carson Wille.

Even though it may not have been to the same degree in some places as it was just a little shy of a month ago, residents of Allamakee County once again found themselves at the mercy of Mother Nature and torrential rains in an overnight storm that dumped anywhere from two to seven inches across the county Wednesday night through Thursday morning, September 21 and 22. The dismay felt by area residents and officials at enduring another such storm less than a month after a very similar but, in places, heavier storm ripped through the same area is understandable, and somewhat compounded by the fact that it was happening in late September on what was supposed to be the first official day of the fall season.

Residents affected by area storms beginning September 21 and the resulting flooding may be eligible to apply for the Iowa Individual Assistance Program to cover losses experienced due to the flooding. This is a new disaster declaration and is separate from the disaster declaration declared August 23. To qualify, households must be located within the new disaster declaration area of Allamakee, Bremer and Chickasaw counties, and must meet income guidelines. Northeast Iowa Community Action Corporation (NEICAC) administers the program in these affected counties.

Private well owners advised to have them checked after recent series of storms

People with private drinking wells in flooded areas are being urged by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to use caution before using water from those sources.

Extensive rainfall and the resulting flooding over portions of north central and northeast Iowa have also caused a number of wastewater treatment facilities to overflow. Some of the facilities have had to bypass untreated wastewater to prevent back-ups into homes and businesses. In all, 38 different wastewater facilities had reported excess water-related issues by Thursday afternoon of last week.

by Joe Moses

The Prairie Steamers Car Club made an appearance in Allamakee County during the group's steam car cruise that was held Monday, September 12 through Friday, September 16. A total of 18 steam cars were involved in this event that traversed through Iowa and Wisconsin throughout last week.

Steam cars are a rare sight, with most companies that produced them going out of business in the late 1920s. Stanley is the most famous of the steam car manufacturers, with Stanley Steamers accounting for most of the vehicles in this year's cruise.

Another quick, heavy dose of approximately an inch of rain on already saturated ground in the very early morning hours of Tuesday, September 13 resulted in a pair of large boulders pictured above breaking loose from the hillside along State Highway 76 just north of Marquette and falling on to the highway, bringing trees and other debris along with them. Crews were at work in those very early morning hours Tuesday cleaning up the rock slide, including having to jackhammer the two large boulders in order to move them off the roadway. Highway 76 was completely closed to traffic during those early morning hours and limited to single lane traffic for a good portion of Tuesday while clean-up and maintenance efforts continued. Photo by the Iowa Department of Transportation.