County gets key disaster declaration

Chickasaw County officials breathed a sigh of relief last week when they learned that the county had received a presidential disaster declaration for the flooding that occurred on Aug. 24 in Northeast Iowa.President Obama signed the disaster declaration last Thursday that included Chickasaw, Allamakee, Clayton, Fayette, Floyd, Howard, Mitchell and Winneshiek counties.Chickasaw County Emergency Management Director Ken Rasing said the declaration was vitally important because it will bring much-needed federal dollars to the county.He pointed out that the August flooding, which hit the northern part of the county especially hard, caused around $450,000 of damage to the county road system while the county parks system was took a $12,000 hit.The county has been hard hit by flooding in recent weeks — suffering major damage on Aug. 24, Sept. 9 and Sept. 23. Rasing said he is optimistic that Chickasaw County will receive more federal help when it comes to the Sept. 22 flooding.— For more on this story, see the Oct. 4 Tribune