PHOTOS: Harkin tours damage in Lake Delhi area

Photos by Liz Martin

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Sen. Tom Harkin got a firsthand account of the Lake Delhi dam bust, but until Tuesday (Aug. 10) had not seen the damage for himself.

“That's quite a big hole there,” Harkin said as he looked over the edge of the washed-out earth-over-concrete portion of the Lake Delhi dam.

Harkin was on the phone July 24 with a friend who was close enough to the dam when it was breached that his friend had to run to safety.

“I was an earwitness,” he said.

Harkin met with local officials and property owners, including Lake Delhi Recreation Association President Jim Willey and dam manager Dave Fink.

“I saw a lot of farmland damage, a lot of houses downstream and I looked at the lake – the former lake,” he said. “Basically, it's a catastrophic event for those people. It's not just the homeowners on the lake because it affects the whole county because of the (property) tax base.” The homes around the nine-mile lake on the Maquoketa River accounted for about 8.5 percent of Delaware County's property tax base.

Harkin has no firm estimate of the damage to public infrastructure, such as roads, bridges and public buildings, or to private homes and other private structures.

“Being there today brings how to me the amount of damage and that it will require a lot of money to repair the dam,” he said.

There may be good news on that front, Harkin said. He initially thought the Lake Delhi Recreation Association, which owns and operates the 88-year-old dam, would not be eligible for any federal assistance because it is a private organization. About 200 feet of the earth-over-concrete portion of the dam were destroyed after in the flooding caused by more than 15 inches of rainfall across the Maquoketa River watershed. However, Willey and Fink provided documentation of money provided by FEMA to dredge the lake and make dam repairs after flooding in 2008.

“So obviously FEMA has recognized the association in the past and that may open the door for funds,” the Iowa Democrat said. Also, it's been suggested the association may be recognized under Iowa law as a governmental agency, he said.

Harkin toured fields with farmer Joe Hoeger of Hopkinton, who showed him how the river had widened at least 15 feet and covered 70 to 80 acres of his land. Hoeger said he won't know until he tries to harvest his crops whether they are salvageable. He and Harkin talked about conservation programs that may provide assistance in restoring those fields.

A request for a presidential disaster declaration should be sent to Washington this week, Harkin said, adding that appears to him to be a foregone conclusion Delaware County will be added to the list of counties already included in disaster areas.

Gov. Chet Culver has appointed a task force of state and local officials charged with developing strategies to assist in the recovery and rebuilding of the Lake Delhi area, and to determine if, and under what conditions, the Lake Delhi dam should be rebuilt. It is to report no later than Dec. 1.