Lake Delhi residents cope with flood aftermath

A flood three years ago ruined some of the items Lake Delhi resident Max Anderson kept in a shed behind his lake-side home of 50 years. To make sure that didn't happen again this year, he loaded all of the objects from the shed into a pickup truck in his home's garage to keep them safe from the water.

On Sunday morning, Anderson took stock of the damage to the items in his flooded garage, as the shed lay upside-down on the beach in the aftermath of a devastating flood in the Lake Delhi area.

“The water got high enough to go over the top of the pickup,” he said. “I lived here since 1962 and had my 80th birthday three days ago. It has never flooded like this.”

Anderson is just one of many homeowners with lake-side houses with extensive damage after heavy rainfalls caused the Lake Delhi water level to rise to unprecedented heights.

See photos of the dam on Sunday and read about the future of Lake Delhi being in limbo

Bob Manning, of Waterloo, was helping his mother-in-law clean out her summer home off 22 years and said that no one ever expected the lake to rise as high or as fast as it did.

“I have lots of friends in Delhi who always say that water-in would be water-out and that there never would be a flooding problem,” Manning said. “Even yesterday when the water was going up, we kept saying, ‘It can't go any higher.'”

The water level finally began to recede after the breach of the Lake Delhi Dam, which was built in 1922 to create the lake. It left behind homes with ruined carpets, moldy walls and destroyed personal effects.

“It's gone,” said Michelle Miller of Dubuque about her family's cabin. “We had water underneath the cabin, water inside the cabin, the whole underneath of the cabin is ruined, the insulation is ruined and the front part of the cabin is sinking.”

The extent of the damage still was unclear on Sunday, according to Lake Delhi Recreation Association President Jim Willey.

“We had around 900 homes on the lake. My guess is anywhere between a third to half of them were damaged.” he said.

See all photos from Sunday

Willey was trying to get accurate reports from the 43 neighborhood wards to get more definite numbers, but said it was difficult to get that information when people were still dealing with the shock of their ruined homes. He also gave credit to the lake's residents for preparing appropriately, leading to no injuries or loss of life in the flood.

“The people of Lake Delhi used their heads,” he said “They got most of their boats out of the water, they didn't endanger anyone else's life and no one got hurt.”

Several state politicians, including Governor Chet Culver, state Representative Ray Zirchelbach and State Senator Tom Hancock, were in the area inspecting some of the damage. Hancock said he would be working with his fellow legislators to see if there were any financial assistance options available to those with damaged homes.

“The state is researching the potential for helping these folks first and foremost,” Hancock said. “Between local state and federal, we're trying to help these folks.”

Some residents were hard at work on Sunday attempting to salvage what they could from their homes with the goal of eventually restoring them. Anamosa resident Jason Driscoll, whose rental property was not as badly flooded as many of the others, was confident he could rebuild.

“We're going to clean it all up and fix it up. It's structurally sound, there's still a house there,” he said.

Others, such as Leon Rickard, whose home was filled to the ceiling with water, weren't so sure about what to do next.

“I haven't the foggiest idea,” Rickard said. “When you lose everything but the TV, it's easy to start from scratch.”

Photos by Julie Koehn

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Between 300 and 700 homes damaged along Lake Delhi

Between 300 and 700 homes along Lake Delhi sustained flood damage this weekend, estimates Jack Klaus, a spokesman for Delaware County Emergency Management.

A number of residences are weekend or vacation cabins and, as such, likely will not qualify for assistance from the federal government.

Gov. Chet Culver and other state officials, traveling throughout Delaware and Buchanan counties on Sunday, said they will investigate the possibility of low-interest loans to those who lost their homes and cabins.

Meanwhile, Delaware County Emergency Management was advising flood victims to take pictures of flood damage and document their situation by making notes. They should call their insurance agents, too.

Delaware County Emergency Management is asking those with flood damage to e-mail this information to macc@manchesteriuowa.org: name, address, phone number and five or six words damages. Put “Flood Damage” in the subject line.

Delaware County Emergency Management Director Mike Ryan will be compiling a list of damaged properties to be used in talks with FEMA and other assistance programs.

Ryan said program rules have changed so even if property owners have been through flooding before, they should file information so they can be contacted and possibly qualify for assistance.

Also, public health officials advised those in flooded areas not to drink or cook with well water and to use bottled water. They also should use insect repellent to guard against mosquitoes that could be carrying the West Nile virus.