MARION, Iowa (KCRG) - The sight of Marion’s City Square Park — covered by massive, uprooted trees, sidewalks ripped out of the ground, and damage to the city’s historic train depot building — is one that Mayor Nick AbouAssaly says makes him cry.
The park’s devastation was part of Gov. Kim Reynolds’ tour of Marion on Tuesday, to observe the destruction left by a storm the day before that hit eastern Iowa hard. She had also toured Tama earlier in the day.
“In Polk, you could just see as we drove over, the amount of damage increase as we drove east,” Reynolds said.
Reynolds was joined by Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg, Iowa Emergency Management Director Joyce Flinn, and Maj. Gen. Ben Corell, Adjutant General of the Iowa National Guard.
They encouraged individuals and local governments to document as much damage as they can so Iowa can get more help in its recovery.
“We also could potentially get a federal declaration as well, and it’s determined on the amount of damage, and so it’s really important that we capture that damage so we can meet the criteria, you know, if we’re close, that we make that criteria so we qualify for those additional funds,” Reynolds said. During a news conference Tuesday morning, the governor said she would be “shocked” if Iowa doesn’t qualify for federal assistance.
AbouAssaly said Marion will need all the resources it can get.
“This is a strong community,” he said. “We will pull together and help each other through this, and we will recover from this. We do need help.”
Reynolds reported at her Tuesday news conference that 550,000 Iowa households were without electricity at the peak of power outages, including 97% of homes in Linn County. She said it could take several days for some people to get power back, especially in Linn, Marshall, and Scott counties.
The state is expecting 500 out-of-state line trucks to assist in Iowa, according to Flinn, repairing what Reynolds called “a significant amount of line damage” that cut power to hundreds of thousands of Iowans.
The governor also said the state is addressing fuel shortages, but didn’t delve into details.
“Especially for diesel, so they can get it to the generators so we can get some of these facilities up and going, so we can make sure that we can keep them operational,” she said. “So they started working on that last night, and they were talking about it again this morning as we headed out.”
Marion leaders told Reynolds communication is one of their biggest issues, saying they’re having trouble coordinating a recovery plan when they can’t get in touch with each other.
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Governor tours storm damage in Marion, addresses power outages, fuel shortages - KCRG
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