News : FEMA's David Maurstad visits Vinton view progress following devastating floods

Another of the homes in the flood plain is now demolished.

Touring the gardens that have taken root in the previously devastated area.

FEMA representative takes time to visit in Vinton with Scott Hansen Benton Co. Emergency Management

Hand filling sandbags vs. the ease of Hesco Barriers

FEMA Deputy Associate Administrator for Mitigation & Insurance David Maurstad visited Vinton on Thursday morning. Touring various parts of Vinton that have been affected by flooding in the last several years. Ironically he visited 3 years to the day from the last time Vinton was underwater standing in the same place where water stood in 2008 and where boats were shuttling workers back and forth in 2016.

Vinton has been on the radar of a few agencies recently that are seeking to understand the ability of a town to bounce back after the devastation of flooding. FEMA stopped to talk with several of Vinton's leaders to see how FEMA has helped and listened to ideas that Benton County Emergency Manager Scott Hansen offered concerning the program. 

Hansen has been the BCEM manager for the past 20 years and has handled the preparation, warning the community of coming disasters, and has worked tirelessly to help preserve the assets in Vinton.

The group started at the Benton County Law Enforcement Center, one of the locations that were hit the hardest in 2008 but was rebuilt as Hansen pointed out, in the same location, just higher, to keep it above floodwaters, for now. While that the cost to rebuild there might have seemed cost-effective, to the agency, in Hansen's opinion not wise when factoring future costs associated with building again, when perhaps this might not be high enough.

Benton County Emergency Management is also part of the Law Enforcement Center sharing space in the same building. Hansen gave a presentation with the group showing the devastation that Vinton experienced during the floods so that the group would have a better idea of the areas that they would be touring, and could better see the before and after.

In the slideshow, it was noted how quickly the Hesco barriers went up, with fewer man hours than previously Vinton attempted to hold back water with sandbags. 

The group toured Celebration Park to see what it looks like now and the success of a community effort to bring the park into existence. Hansen showed slides of the houses before the flood and the area following the construction of Celebration Park. 

Present to tour the city, were Chris Ward, Vinton's City Administrator, who was able to show the demolition of a home affected by flooding between 2nd and 3rd Streets, The home is next to the community gardens, where Greg Walston of the Iowa State Extension office had the opportunity to share the success of the project and who has been instrumental in implementing the gardens in a space now cleared following the flooding. 

Also present to meet the FEMA representatives were Hayley Rippel, Benton County's Auditor, Sheriff Ron Tippett, Mayor Bud Maynard, and Tom Richtsmeier who is the Manager for Vinton's Municipal Electric Utilities who was there to represent the light plant another operation that is constantly at risk. 

They also toured other areas affected by the flooding.