Government

Iowa was notified late last week by Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Craig Fugate that the state’s request for activation of the Federal Individual Assistance Program for Fremont, Harrison, Monona, Pottawattamie and Woodbury counties has been denied.

Mills County was not included in the original request due to a low number of significantly affected homes in our area during the original assessment process.

    The Iowa Department of Transportation is counting on a “crossover” on Interstate 29 south of Exit 32 in western Mills County to provide relief to flood-detoured motorists utilizing the Plattsmouth Bridge to travel between Iowa and Nebraska. The IDOT implemented the temporary crossover last Wednesday.

Their mission is to identify potential problems and trouble spots that could compromise the structural integrity of the Missouri River levee system in western Mills County.

    Working in teams of two, soldiers from the Iowa Army National Guard have been patrolling Mills County’s 26 miles of levee since mid-June. Most of the soldiers assigned to Mills County are members of the 1168th Transportation Co., based out of Audubon, Perry and Marshalltown.

The Glenwood Municipal Utilities Board believes it’s done everything in its power to protect the Glenwood Water Treatment plant from potential Missouri River floodwater.

    “I think we’ve done everything that was humanly possible to protect that plant,” John Dean, chairman of the GMU board of directors said last week. “We did the best thing we could possibly do. Are we still going to lose it? I don’t know. That water could get 8 feet there, but in my lifetime it never has.”