http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wium/local-wium-907149.mp3
Burlington, IA – Jason Parrott's guests are Jeff Hanan and Tracey Lamm with the Southeast Iowa Regional Planning Commission. They have been involved in the local recovery from the Flood of 2008.
Lamm has overseen the financial side for the commission. She says more than $3-million has been made available for local businesses and homeowners.
Lamm says, at first, homeowners did not want to rebuild. She says that changed as more money started to come in.
Lamm says homeowners would have liked to have seen the money come in quicker. She has run into some problems with FEMA, primarily because of the rotating agency employees for victims to deal with.
Hanan has overseen the demolition aspect for the commission.
Several dozen structures have been torn down in northern Des Moines County and Louisa County. More will come down soon as part of the federal buy-out program.
Hanan says the structures were not salvageable and had to be torn down due to the threat of asbestos.
Both Hanan and Lamm say they will be working on recovery efforts through the end of 2010, despite the flooding lasting just a few weeks in June 2008.