Henry County issues a state of emergency after damaging storms

By BRYCE KELLY

Mt. Pleasant News

Walt Jackson, Emergency Management coordinator for Henry County, has issued a state of emergency notice for Henry County after severe thunderstorms and high winds ripped through the county on Saturday night and early Sunday morning. The notice was reviewed and approved by the county supervisors during their regular board meeting on Tuesday.

?Henry County has sustained severe damage to public and private property as a result of tornadoes and high winds during Saturday night?s storm,? said Jackson. ?The county has also experienced disruptions in utility services. Overall, the storm posed a major threat to the health and safety of the citizens in the county.?

Invoking the notice would allow Henry County to use emergency funds from the State of Iowa that can be put towards disaster clean up efforts.

Should the county see more damaging storms this week, as the current forecast suggests could be a possibility, an additional state of emergency notice could be issued to offset damage done from those storms. However, Jackson has stated the notice that was approved on Tuesday only refers to the damage done over the weekend.

While Jackson has had his hands full dealing with the damage that was done over the weekend, he wasn?t the only county official trying to help restore order to the county.

County engineer Jake Hotchkiss, who was also present during the meeting, gave the board of supervisors a rundown of what his department was charged with after the storm hit.

?Most of the damage in the county we have been dealing with is related to fallen trees and detached branches,? said Hotchkiss. ?A few power lines were down as well. We have been dealing with these issues as best we can, and I still have crews out clearing away branches from the roadways.?

Both Hotchkiss and Jackson say they are appreciative of the public?s cooperation as clean up continues and ask that individuals take the proper safety precautions while clearing away fallen trees and other debris from their properties.

While Hotchkiss has been busy with the results of Saturday?s storms, he has also been working on several other road projects. Most recently, he has received word from the contractor working on the paving project in Salem that the start date for work will most likely be moved back to July 6.

?With the amount of rain we have had, the date had to be moved back a bit in order for things to dry out,? said Hotchkiss. ?We also want to respect the July 4th holiday and not disturb traffic as people will be out and about during that time.?

Also being interrupted by the rainy weather of late is the 320th Street riverbank stabilization project. While the contractor on the project would have preferred to start sooner, river levels are simply too high to begin work.

Hotchkiss estimates that work on the project will likely commence by the middle of July.

Also discussed during the meeting were the following items:

?July 14, 2015, was the date set for fuel bid lettings.

?The board renewed an agency agreement with the Henry County Health Center, the public health department and the Henry County Board of Supervisors to make HCHC the primary local health agency for the county.

?Hotchkiss presented a sanitary sewer permit, a work in right-of-way permit and a utility permit to the board for approval. All three were unanimously approved.