Governor Signs Flood Recovery Laws in Cedar Rapids

By Dave Franzman, Reporter

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By Dave Franzman

Story Created: May 22, 2009 at 4:38 PM CST

Story Updated: May 22, 2009 at 5:01 PM CST

CEDAR RAPIDS- Iowa Governor Chet Culver signed five bills into law on Friday to help communities both recover from last year's flooding and also prevent future flood damage.

One of the new laws drew the most attention from Cedar Rapids city leaders. That's the one that will help speed up the clean up of abandoned private property.

At the height of the flooding last June, some estimated the total number of homes damaged at 3,000. Even now, nearly a year later, no one knows how many owners have walked away with no plans to clean up--much less repair flood-damaged property.

Under the old state rules, city government faced a lot of hurdles to clean up such a mess. Council member Justin Shields noted "it takes so long in order to get the legal work done before you can take action."

But with the Governor's signature, one of the five bills will streamline the process communities can use to get control of abandoned homes. That should speed up the entire process.

Another bill signed into law will impose more controls on river watersheds and land use to try to minimize future flood risks.

The Governor has now signed two dozen bills connected with floods or natural disasters. He says the state's flood recovery office could have more recommendations by the next legislative session.

Governor Culver said "General Dardis has asked that commission (Rebuild Iowa) to be ready to make additional recommendations. If we have real serious, pressing issues relating to public policy, we will."

The Governor on Friday also made it state law to require Iowa communities to participate in national flood insurance programs, to control the design of "storm shelters" in new construction and to make it easier to replace prescription drugs lost in the aftermath of natural disasters.

Governor Culver also noted that Iowa's tornadoes and floods in 2008 now place the state 4th on the list of worst national disasters in terms of loss of public property and infrastructure. The latest $1.4-billion dollar estimate moved Iowa from 5th to 4th exceeding the damage from Hurricane Wilma in Florida in 2005.

The top national disasters, in cost of replacing public property, are Katrina/New Orleans #1, 911 in New York City #2 and Katrina/Mississippi coast #3 and Iowa/2008 #4.

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