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Missouri River flooding in Iowa leaves ‘catastrophic devastation’

“Catastrophic devastation.”

That’s how Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds describes the damage from the second major flood along the Missouri River within a decade. Reynolds toured flood-impacted areas of southwest Iowa Monday. She said the flooding is creating big challenges.

“We’ve got farmland that’s been impacted. We’ve got bridges that we have to replace. We’ve got secondary road system all across this state that’s being impacted by the flooding,” Reynolds said. “We’ve got a long road ahead.”

Iowa ag secretary Mike Naig says he’s hearing some of the same concerns.

“A tremendous challenge around our secondary roads and getting feed in, and animals in and out—that’s really been the focus,” Naig says.

Rivers in other parts of Iowa are elevated and ice jams have been reported in places like the Cedar River in Cedar Falls and the Iowa River in Iowa Falls.

Radio Iowa contributed to this story.

AUDIO: Mike Naig