Outside of Town

Earlier I posted a picture of the break in Highway 99 just as it exits Oakville.

The break was repaired quite a while ago here by Iowa DOT and Louisa county road crews.

Further south, at the intersection of Highway 99 and the Pumping Station Road, there is another break that has not been repaired yet. It is located in Des Moines county which has created a bypass around the break for now.

The flood had surrounded a hog confinement.

Now, the confinement is on dry land and the green surrounding it is actually soybeans farmers had planted to try to get a crop this year. If the land had dried enough, farmers did try to mitigate their losses. One of the risks they take is the cool summer that may not allow the crops to mature before the frost kills the plants.

Some farms are filled with sand from the levee the river washed into them. These fields may have to get the sand removed before farming can occur. I spoke to a farmer who had two feet of sand on some of his fields.

A line of trees has all of the lower branches looking dead while the upper ones that were spared much water still green.

Many ditches have debris and trash in them. This could have been moved from any place above the town.

There have been a series of meetings with residents of both the town and farmland. Farmers are concerned if buyouts happen they will not be able to till the ground. The buyouts are only for homes and when the buildings are torn down the land is to be used for green space purposes which include farming.