Iowa Disasters 2008

1. Iowa Disasters 2008 What We have Learned

2. Applington-Parkersburgh High School

3. Parkersburg

4. Cedar Rapids

5. Residential Cedar Rapids

6. Coral ville

7. Iowa River Near Oakville

8. Typical Farm Damage

9. Damage FEMA: The EF5 tornado that ripped through Parkersburg and northeastern Iowa did nearly $6 million in damage. Rebuild Iowa Office on Flooding: “Identifying all the damages and pacing a dollar value on them is impossible” Estimates: --$703 million to public buildings and infrastructure -- $946 million housing (including multifamily) --$2.5 to $3 billionto agricultural operations

10. The Real Damage

11. The Real Damage

12. The Real Damage

13. Response • The response varied from community to community, from county to county. • Rebuild Iowa Office: “ The recovery has been made more challenging by its magnitude, and the extraordinary demands have illustrated the need for pre-planning and institutionalizing some of the community and state practices and programs of support….”

14. Lessons Learned • Immediate and Long Term Recovery responses differ, but were not well understood, nor covered by existing plans. • Emergency response organizations such as the County Emergency Managers and Red Cross were very active in the initial response phase, as were several faith-based volunteer groups. • Transition to long term recovery where case managers assist victims to rebuild their homes and lives, was greatly aided where United Way or other community led VOADs existed. • Where there was no pre-existing VOAD, long term recovery lagged –Wapello County, March 2009

15. Lessons Learned • Many people did not receive aid until quite late in the recover y process. • Months after the flooding, outreach workers were still finding families living in only a portion of their homes, still in shock, not participating in seeking assistance. • Elderly, homebound , and educationally or mentally challenged people often did not receive or understand information on applying for aid or following through with applications if filed.

16. Lessons Learned • Few organizations, parishes, or people were prepared for disaster • Important business records were lost in the disasters because they were stored in the office, parish or home and were destroyed with them. • Loss of records of deeds, titles, property inventory, policy numbers, etc., considerably slowed the process of applying for and justifying relief. • Lack of important phone numbers, medical information and prescription records placed people uninjured by the disasters at risk.

17. Lessons Learned • Parish responses varied, but apparently none had much in the way of preplanning: • Parishes did not have disaster plans to address business and sacramental records, or particularly vulnerable equipment. • Few parishes had a systematic plan to contact parishioners to assure their safety, particularly for the elderly and home bound. • Some parishes participated vigorously in the response to the disasters, others had minimal response.

18. Conclusion While the Iowa 2008 disasters were devastating in terms of property damage and economic impact , that impact could have been reduced. Disastrous fires, windstorms, tornados, flooding, flu outbreaks (including pandemic), and drought are probable occurrences . They will occur. Planning will not prevent them, but will reduce the impact.