Retrospective: One Year Since Historic Floods in Northwest Iowa and Surrounding Areas

By Ashley Peterson-DeLuca

First, a year's worth of rain fell on northwestern Iowa for three days. Then, the flooding began. In late June 2024, the Big Sioux, Floyd and Rock Rivers in Clay and Sioux counties swelled beyond their banks. A levee breach on the Rock River caused flash flooding in Rock Valley, Iowa. Buildings flooded, and people evacuated their homes to the sounds of tornado sirens. Thousands more lost power and internet as the river waters swept across 21 counties.

Flooding in Rock Valley, Iowa.

Tammy Lee, Executive Director for the Northwest Iowa Northeast Nebraska chapter of the Red Cross, lives nearby in Le Mars, Iowa. In the few hours it took to leave her home, purchase and deliver supplies to a shelter in Rock Valley and return, her usual way into town was blocked by floodwaters. She found her own basement flooding with sewage water.

That day, she helped support shelter openings and made contacts that led to opening a Red Cross headquarters at Western Iowa Tech Community College the following day.

Red Cross volunteers distributed comfort kits in a shelter on the first night of flooding.

Over the next few weeks, the Red Cross:

·       Set up 13 shelters

·       Deployed more than 400 volunteers from across the country

·       Opened 1,000 recovery cases, supporting 3,000 people

·       Provided 2,000 people with cleanup supplies

·       Shared meals with many more people without power and working in the summer heat

Lee says, "It was heartwarming to see the Red Cross in action in your own backyard."

When not supporting disaster response, much of Lee’s work involves relationship building and communications. But when a natural disaster happens, she says that "these relationships naturally evolved into supporting the disaster response."

Churches that had previously hosted blood drives turned into shelters. The elected officials she regularly communicated with became powerful conduits of information. The Red Cross tapped its community partners to connect people with its resources.

In addition, dozens of locals became new volunteers to help with the massive response. There were many jobs to do, from inventory management of the warehouse of cleanup supplies to setting up a headquarters within one day. Disaster assessment specialists relied on new volunteers' local knowledge to navigate the countryside and find affected homes.

For Janet Flanagan, a Red Cross volunteer living in Sioux City, this was her first deployment. She was on the ground, taking pictures and sharing information back to headquarters to share on their channels.

"The Red Cross's response was unbelievable. It was an army of Red Cross responders of all levels," says Flanagan. "When there's a disaster of this magnitude, it reminds people of the power of the Red Cross and what it can do."

A group of Red Cross responders leaves to serve flood-affected residents.

Immediately after the flood, Flanagan reports that "it was just mud everywhere.” In nearby McCook Lake, South Dakota, close to the Iowa border, damage was severe, and several homes slid into the lake. For others, the water had left behind mold and contaminants in their homes, offices, and farmland.

Flanagan is also a volunteer at a local museum that was flooded with three feet of water. There was over $70,000 in damage, and it took nine months to clean and repair the displays. But they left a few reminders of the historic flood: a donor board showing the height of the flooding and a desk at the entrance that was warped by the floodwaters.

Lee stays in contact with groups providing long-term support to those displaced and connects people to resources as she can. She says, "One year out, there are still people who aren't in their homes."

Red Cross emergency response vehicles line up to enter flood-affected neighborhoods to provide water, food and relief supplies.

Mike Frantz, the only Red Cross disaster response volunteer in Buena Vista County, says, "You never expect it in your hometown. The tornado isn't going to hit. The river isn't going to flood. But every town is susceptible to something."

He was in the middle of training to respond to disasters when the flooding happened, and he couldn't deploy for this one. He says, "It increased my itch to finish."

However, he's responded to the next disaster—and then the next and the next. In the last nine months, he's deployed to four natural disasters nationally and many more home and apartment fires in his part of Iowa.

"You'd go over and help your neighbor even if you're not with the Red Cross," he says. "I think of volunteering with the Red Cross as helping neighbors I haven't yet met."

In the year since the flooding, countless neighbors have stepped up to help their community, from removing sandbags and mucking out basements to providing financial support. For example, at Sioux City's Fourth of July music festival, Saturday in the Park, between matching and individual donations, they raised $10,000 to help those affected and recognized volunteers.

There are many ways to help respond to disasters in your community and nationally. Frantz says, "There's a volunteer opportunity at the Red Cross that fits everybody."

Visit redcross.org/volunteer to learn about volunteer opportunities near you.