Yeager: The floods and storms of '08 have claimed lives and property, that property worth hundreds of millions of dollars, if not billions. Tonight thousands of Iowans remain homeless. The summer, if not the year, has already been redefined by the weather.

The impact will be felt for some time. To help Iowans cope we have assembled a panel of experts. You can direct your questions to them by calling the following number: 866-282-2846 and you can also e-mail disaster08@iptv.org. We'll have those numbers for you the entire night on the screen.

The circumstances in which Iowa finds itself did not occur overnight. But no one could imagine the abnormal weather would persist for so long. Early in June the state's profusion of rivers and streams were swollen by a string of heavy rains. The result has been a nearly two week long sweep of flood waters from the north central part of the state towards the southeast. While other regions of the state are just now becoming submerged, recovery is beginning in some of afflicted areas.

Mason City finally got water back to drink on Friday, almost six full days since the water treatment plant was overwhelmed by the Winnebago River. Clean up of East Park is still a work in progress but the first of many Iowa towns hit by flood waters is offering hope to those downstream.

Waverly is on the banks of the Cedar River in Bremer County. The Cedar River was over several blocks of Waverly. Now the massive task of clean up begins. Downtown businesses nearest the river are emptying out nearly everything in their stores that was damaged by the flood. At this pile, the owners put out the white flag signaling that they've seen enough.

St. Paul Lutheran is a long-time church in Waverly and has seen water before. Water stains the entrance to the church both outside and inside, a lasting mark on the church and the city's history.

The Cedar broke records in nearly every town along its course, including Cedar Rapids where the water went almost 20 feet over a flood stage, 10 feet over the record that stood since 1929. Blocks of businesses in the downtown were under water. Many municipal buildings were the same way, including City Hall which say on an island then was submerged in the Cedar for days. Hundreds of residential blocks were under water forcing thousands from their homes.

By Tuesday the water had receded in several parts of town. Homes that broke away were jammed up against one rail bridge north of I-380. Another rail bridge downstream was in the stream. The rail company had put loaded cars on the bridge hoping to keep it in place with high waters rushing by. The Coralville Reservoir is designed to control the Iowa River and did for several days, but water began to flow over the emergency spillway and is projected to continue until June 25th.

Downstream, Iowa City and Coralville still have high water in many recognizable places. Along the 2nd Street area, the University of Iowa softball diamond and everything else around it is under water. Businesses look like boathouses in a marina. The Iowa River threatened many University of Iowa buildings prompting the University to suspend operations for a week while waters came up and down around town. Several campus buildings were damaged. Hancher Auditorium had water up to stage level.

To the west Saylorville Lake is still running water through its emergency spillway. A road below has been washed out as well by the Des Moines River. The Iowa National Guard helped protect a Des Moines neighborhood called Birdland. A mile long levee was reinforced with sandbags. But another area of the levee near Des Moines North High School did not hold up to the pressure and broke Saturday. Dozens of blocks were under water, which is receding. Levees in downtown held and evacuation orders were lifted by the weekend.

The National Guard also helped hold back the Des Moines River in Ottumwa. Here an electrical station was still dry but several farm fields around it are not. Columbus Junction is where two heavily flooded rivers, the Cedar and Iowa, come together. Forecasters called for record flooding. They were right. The Louisa County Fairgrounds are still under water. And you can see in this aerial view there is water covering not just acres but miles upon miles of farm fields.

Downstream, Oakville is on the Iowa River. The entire town is under water as well.

The Mississippi now swollen by the Cedar and Iowa rivers was flooding Burlington's riverfront. But a break in a levee on the Illinois side of the river relieved some of the pressure and may help spare Burlington. But Illinois communities were inundated and hundreds of square miles of farmland are under water.

Yeager: Now, with us tonight is a panel that should be able to address most of the questions that come up during tonight's session about the floods. David Miller is the Director of Research and Commodity Services for Iowa Farm Bureau. Kevin Mahoney is the Chief Engineer for the Iowa Department of Transportation. Iowa Lieutenant Governor Patty Judge also serves as the Governor's Homeland Security Advisor. Tom Newton is the Director of the Iowa Department of Public Health. And Karen Hyatt is a Mental Health Counselor with the Iowa Department of Human Services. To the panel, I welcome you to The Iowa Journal this evening. First, Lieutenant Governor, I want to start with you. Give us a status report. How is the state doing?

Judge: I think we're doing remarkably well. This has certainly been an event that has just seemed to have gone on and on. In fact, we were talking about dates today and, you know, we are actually getting close to a month of either tornadoes, floods or both. So, despite this I think people are doing well, people have their chins up and they're starting to talk about recovery now.

Yeager: Talking about recovery in many areas, we talked about it in central Iowa, they had the water, last week it was Cedar Rapids and then Iowa City this week towards Burlington. How are they doing in the southeast portion of the state?

Judge: Well, of course, when you're hit with a wall of water and you lose your home, you lose your possessions, you lose your business it takes a little while to absorb that and to start thinking about the next day. But upstream people are beginning to remove debris, they are beginning to think about long-term plans for rebuild and that will happen in southeast Iowa too in the next few days I'm sure.

Yeager: Just like the rest of the state. Tom Newton, I have a question for you. We talk about recovery, it begins with clean up. We hear a lot about tetanus shots. It was in Parkersburg just as it is in the flood areas. Is it safe to go in the water now or the mud or what do we need to take as precautions when we start this clean up?

Newton: It is safe to go into the water. What people need to do is go back and check their vaccination records. They need to talk with their primary healthcare provider, find out what the status of their vaccination is. If they haven't had a tetanus booster within the last five years they need to consult with their healthcare provider to see whether or not they need to get a booster. Certainly if they have sustained a puncture wound or a scratch or an abrasion on their legs and spent some time in the flood water it would probably be a good idea to get a tetanus shot.

Yeager: So, that's something we need to keep watching. But people were supposed to stay out of the water but now they can go in. Should they have gloves on? Should they have rubber boots? Should they be covered? Should they be in shorts?

Newton: Certainly we want to make sure that they have adequate coverage while they are out there and wearing proper clothing. We've heard some reports of people wandering through the flood water in flip-flops. We want to make sure that they have good, sturdy tennis shoes or a good, sturdy boot on when they are out in those flood waters. There's a lot of misconception that tetanus and hepatitis, if you go into flood waters you're automatically going to get those. That's not the case. But people do need to be precautionary and wear proper clothing while out working in it and wearing gloves too.

Yeager: It could be neighbors or friends or relatives who are going to go help out this weekend or whenever it is the next time. Thank you, Tom. Kevin Mahoney of the DOT, I've seen a lot of pictures, a lot of roads that are no longer there. How are we doing on our roads across the state?

Mahoney: We've got quite a variation of problems ranging from being able to be re-opened without any problems or any repair to a mile of complete road embankment and pavement replacement.

Yeager: So, a number of things. What is a priority? Are we talking main roads that are going to have to get opened first? I know we see a picture that goes out of Fort Atkinson where that road is gone. That's a pretty main area to get up to the northeast part of the state. Where does the priority go and what do you fix first?

Mahoney: So far the priority has been as waters have receded we've addressed the damage and have taken on repair responsibilities either with our field maintenance staff or we've gone as far as hiring contractors to supplement that or take on that themselves.

Yeager: Okay, I've already seen a number of questions come in, I'm sure we're going to be having a lot of conversation tonight. David, I want to move to you next and we're talking about lots and lots of acres, is it in the millions how many acres have been impacted by this flood?

Miller: Yes, our best estimates at this point will include a combination of acres that have not been able to be planted. As Lieutenant Governor Judge said, this has been going on for well over a month in terms of this rain impact. And so we're way behind in terms of some of the plantings. On corn we have probably 1.3 million acres that have either been delayed planted or directly affected by the flood, acres that were intended for soybeans approaching 2 million acres around the state. The good news is the last two days planters have been rolling again in some areas. So, again, the recovery is beginning. There are people as the weather has improved the last couple of days have begun to take steps to either re-plant fields or go back into fields and plant them for the first time.

Yeager: So, that is something that they're going to have to move forward with because our corn window is closed.

Miller: The window is closing very quickly. The optimal times have passed for both crops. We're into variant on corn and, in fact, in the northern tiers of counties in the state we're probably beyond corn planting. In the southern tier of counties we could probably plant corn with a reasonable expectation of that crop maturing before first frost up until mid next week. Soybean planting in the southern part of the state would probably proceed up through July 4th, maybe even to July 10th. But, again, the farther we go, the bigger the impact or risk there is of frost and other damages to the crop.

Yeager: The more rain that falls adds another headache to it. So, very good, thank you very much. Karen Hyatt, I have a question for you. It came up during Parkersburg where we see images over and over and over again of what has happened. Are we seeing the same type of thing? And what are the concerns when those images are in the newspaper, on the Internet, on television that we have to worry about for those that are having to deal with this tragedy?

Hyatt: I think it's important that people monitor how often they are watching the newscasts especially if there are children involved, for parents to make sure that they let the children know that on television events are replayed, they're not happening live at that time, that's a real concern. I think that people also need to make sure that they keep in perspective what's happening with them, that it is an event that is over and that there is a process to that, that is recovery and it's hard to do when you see images everywhere and it keeps being compared to other events. And this is a unique event and I think we all need to treat it as such.

Yeager: Now, I know there were conversations that we had when we were on the ground in Parkersburg talking with people and one of the mental health counselors told us that they just need to tell their story. Well, that's one town. This flooding is across so many different counties across the state. How does everybody get their story out? Is that the first thing that they need to do?

Hyatt: I think right now people are very busy and while they may be telling their story while they're taking care of business of cleaning out their homes and that part of that will come later. A lot of people are still in the shock mode, they're still trying to decide what their financial situations are. I think we'll see in a couple of weeks people will take the time to be able to really know what the story is to tell. And that just comes with recovery and time.

Yeager: So, we'll get into that a little bit more. So, that's our opening rounds of questions. Let's start with the numbers that have been coming in tonight. We've been getting plenty of questions already, the numbers are on your screen right there, it's 866-282-2846, you can also send an e-mail to disaster08@iptv.org. The first question and I kind of thought it would go this way is to Kevin Mahoney in DOT. Will new construction be put on hold now? Or if that money is already down the pipeline where does it go from there?

Mahoney: I don't believe that new construction will be on hold at all. Later in the year there may be some say trading on some projects and that sort of thing but we have a small contingency fund and the emergency relief funds that come from the Federal Highway Administration where the work is accomplished within the first 180 days of the event whether it's emergency repairs or permanent repairs that are toward the final reopening of the road, the initial reopening I'll say. That is 100% federal reimbursement so I'm confident that our construction program will stay as we had originally planned although the weather, just like the agricultural community, has been severely affected by that.

Yeager: You've kept up repairs on I-35 north of Highway 20. That has been a project that's been going on so that didn't stop. I-80 was shut for a weekend and that was around a new bridge construction, that bridge construction will go forward?

Mahoney: Yes, it will.

Yeager: Okay, and then is there a priority for system repairs? I think we kind of touched on this earlier but what type of priority other than once you get that water gone it's just regular priority for the DOT?

Mahoney: As the water receded we were able to take an assessment of what the damage was and what the capabilities were from our field maintenance sources and if we were able to open those roads with the equipment and staff that we had we went ahead and did that even as far as opening one lane at a time and that sort of thing for only daylight hours. Now that we're seeing a little bit more and we've inspected a lot, in fact not a lot, all these bridges that are since opened to identify that they are safe for traffic and now we know what we need to do in the way of hiring contractors. Some of these repairs that I spoke of earlier that are a mile long are going to take a redesign. We have to completely rebuild the road bed and probably have some drainage issues that we have to reconcile. And also we've got to find some dry material.

Yeager: Good luck on finding that. Lieutenant Governor, you had held a lot of briefings, you kind of led a lot of these briefings over at the STARC Armory in the last couple of weeks but I don't know, do you know, is there still a need for volunteers in certain areas? What are those needs that volunteers are needed for?

Judge: Well, of course, the sandbag need is past us now and I do want to thank people all over the state who stepped out of their lives and went to assist their neighbors in sandbagging and that happened all the way from the Minnesota border down to the Missouri and Illinois borders in southern Iowa. We really thank everybody for everything they have done. I am not sure what the future will bring. There, of course, is a lot of debris removal going on, people are working hard and I would suggest that if you are still interested in volunteering that you call the Iowa Concern Hotline number and let them know. That is 1-800-447-1985. And they can take your name and let you know if there is a need.

Yeager: And there's also resources on our Web site at iptv.org and there's lots of resources but we've tried to put a lot of the ones involved tonight on iptv.org. I want to ask Tom Newton this question now. We talked about it just briefly. What type of diseases do we need to worry about during clean up? We talked about tetanus and the need for that shot, hepatitis, are there other things that we need to be on the lookout for?

Newton: Well, probably our biggest concern right now is that people have safe water to drink and safe food to consume. And what they need to do is if they are on a public water system, if they are on a city water system they need to take guidance from their local utilities company. We've had a number of systems that have been shut down for a period of time or have been closed down for an extended period of time. They need to take guidance from those local officials as to whether that public water system is safe to drink. If they're on a private water well they need to make sure that if that well was inundated by flood water, if they had it up over the cap, if they had it around the casing that they get in touch with their local health department and/or a private well contractor to come out and do shock chlorination of that system, kill off any bacterial contamination that may have occurred. And then with the health department or the private water well contractor can take a water sample and they shouldn't use that as a drinking water source until they do get confirmation that it's safe to drink.

Yeager: There are areas that have been hit with water that may have not gone over their wells before, somebody new on the farm. Should a person who lives in an area -- should they know who their contractor is or who should they call if they're not exactly certain where they're going to do some of this?

Newton: Most typically they're going to know who their contractor is because they will have come out and work on their pump or something like that. And their local health department they just have to look in the yellow pages. For anyone that is out there working in flood water we surely want to make sure that they're following proper sanitation and washing their hands thoroughly, making sure they wipe down their skin after spending some time in flood water and that will minimize the risk of disease.

Yeager: Very good, I appreciate the answer to that question. Dave, we're talking about some more of the crop related issues and this one talks about -- Iowa is looking to be a big corn producing state this year, it always it, it's the top in the nation. What is this going to have on an impact of the ag economy not just in Iowa but the entire country with this millions of acres out of production now?

Miller: The assessment that we've made so far really looks at how much crop have we lost to date. We haven't looked at or tried to speculate on how much might get replanted because we'll know that within a week or two and then we can make a further assessment. But as of today if you took that 1.3 million acres of corn that either isn't planted or flooded out that was probably a crop that would have been worth at today's prices about $1.5 billion dollars. On the soybean side assuming Iowa average yield is around 50 bushels per acre, 2 million acres, that's 100 million bushels of soybeans that would probably be lost from a harvest perspective unless we can get it replanted over the next couple of weeks. That's about also another $1.5 billion dollars. So, there's about $3 billion dollars of potential crop loss if we can't get that crop replanted. The better the weather is for the next ten days the more that farmers will be able to enter the fields ...

Yeager: Get into that window that you were talking about.

Miller: Enter that window of replant here and at least mitigate some of that. Now, there's likely to be some fields, a number of the rivers are still a flood stage and while the waters are receding we probably expect there will be maybe as much as a million acres in Iowa this year that just plain don't get planted. So, there will be fairly substantial losses out in the agricultural community compared to what probably would have been a record crop year and may well still be on a value basis a record crop given where prices are.

Yeager: Talking $7, $8, maybe even $9 a bushel for corn, that's unheard of. I don't think we'd ever think we'd have that conversation. But what about the impact that we could see on ethanol production, on food production, what that stock of crop where it's going to go?

Miller: Clearly the supply and demand situation for corn is very tight this year and it will be very tight on soybeans. So, the markets are reflecting that in terms of current prices. The market will ration this crop, that's one of the functions of a market is to determine those best uses and where it economically can be used to its highest value. We are hearing some ethanol plants particularly in Nebraska that have pulled their corn bids because corn supplies there are getting tight and they were looking maybe for Iowa corn to fill those supplies. I think a number of places are reevaluating how they would run. Clearly the livestock industry of this state is facing massive cost increases from feed purchases compared to what they had expected even just a couple of weeks ago. So, there's impacts being spread very much across this. In the short run consumers probably won't see much price impact because the very short run livestock producers in response to high prices are likely to do some liquidation of their livestock herds that actually probably puts more pork and more beef into the marketing system. Longer term, three months, six months, nine months down the road we're likely to see some increases in meat, particularly meat and dairy product, ag products, those that use feed in the grocery store when we look farther down. If you're seeing increases in products, grocery store products right now it's probably much more related to energy prices and the impacts there than it is to a flood impact.

Yeager: We'll see if the two come together and there will be a whole new set of stories that we'll be talking about. Karen, I want to go back to you and talk a little bit. When we hear the term post traumatic stress we think of soldiers coming home from war, the families impacted. Are we in a situation where we could see post traumatic stress?

Hyatt: There's always potential for that. Already we're hearing stories from people who experienced trauma. In the 70s, in the 80s people, you notice when the tornado first hit, when floods first started most all of the media used the connection back to the floods of 1993. People were hearing comparisons and I think when that happens people do go back into their databanks and maybe they have unresolved issues over some of the fears or the floods from prior events and then it becomes real. Certainly we're hearing through the community health centers that people have started calling when it's raining because they're afraid that the rain is meaning that their town is going to flood or their children are concerned about that and I think that's where we really have to help people normalize what is happening, put a timeframe to the event to try to reduce some of the risk of post traumatic stress. But it is a very real concern and certainly mental health professionals are looking for signs and symptoms of that and if people are having trouble and they're feeling that they're not able to sleep, that they're not being able to concentrate because they're having a lot of fear or anxiety over flooding or if a tornado is going to come then they should seek professional help or talk to a confidant and make sure that they really air those feelings and get some input. It's good to get a little, a meter to what people are feeling.

Yeager: That was one of the questions that we had submitted tonight. Remember you can submit a question tonight by calling the following number: 866-282-2846. You can also send an e-mail to disaster08@iptv.org. And if you're looking for a source of resources like many of the questions have come up tonight you can go to iptv.org. Tom, another question for you. This one is about the mosquito problem. We're going to have stagnant water, we're going to have a lot of it. That's prime breeding ground for mosquitoes. I know in some cities they are spraying already but that's not a state public health thing. What about the mosquito population, concerns about West Nile virus, what type of things do we need to be on the look out that we can do as homeowners individually?

Newton: Well, we would encourage any homeowner to go out and survey their backyard or front yard, see if you have any standing pools of water available for mosquitoes to breed with and you'll probably see the little nymphs swimming around in there right now if you take a close look at it. We would encourage anyone that had old tires or five gallon pails out behind their house that had standing water in it, dump that out. If you have a bird bath, dump it out on a daily basis. If you're going out early in the morning or you're going out later on in the evening make sure you're wearing a bug spray with DEET. That's going to protect you as much as anything. Wear long sleeves and long pants so that you're protected from those mosquito bites. We'll work closely with the other state agencies that have some involvement with state parks and the Department of Agriculture has some involvement with pesticide application, communities contact all three of our agencies and seek input as to what is the best way to control mosquitoes. Many of them have their own mosquito control program, we have some guidance we can provide to them as well. But for that individual homeowner the best thing they can do is go out and survey their yard, make sure they have no standing water because the mosquitoes that bite them in their backyard are probably ones that came from their backyard.

Yeager: Didn't fly in from another spot. Lieutenant Governor, we've talked about you've basically been living at the STARC Armory, it seems, you've been bunkered down with what's going on. We have a question that came in from Gulf Port, Illinois, across the river from Burlington in that area and they have a home that is under water. Now, they're in the Illinois side. Who should they call? Is that a FEMA question, Illinois Emergency Management? I'm sure you've had a lot of these questions but if it was somebody from outside of your state what would be your best suggestion for this person?

Judge: Every state has an emergency management system and I don't have the numbers.

Yeager: Right and I do want to clarify here a point, I'm sorry for interrupting, they have called the local emergency management agency and they refer them to the county. So, it seems like this one is going around, the Red Cross is not able to help them out. Is there anything that Iowa could do for them?

Judge: I would suggest that they do try to get a hold of a FEMA number and register that. And I actually have an 800 number for FEMA, I'll be glad to give you that.

Yeager: Go ahead, this is the number for FEMA.

Judge: This is 1-800-621-FEMA and that is 1-800-621-3362. I think if the listener or the viewer called that that maybe FEMA could get them pointed in the right way.

Yeager: Let's talk about some of the federal response that there has been. Today the President had toured the southeast part of the state. You've toured some of it. Your boss, the Governor, has been in several places across the state. How would you rate that cooperation between federal and state and how will we try to move forward from what's happened here?

Judge: We are working very, very closely with our federal partners here in Iowa and I really think that this is a success story. We all saw the footage from Louisiana and Mississippi during Hurricane Katrina and it seemed that things just didn't work. That's hard to say when you're not really there but it appeared that way to us. I will say that FEMA has been on the spot with us, they've been out at the Armory with us since the beginning of this event. They continue to work very closely with us. The Corp of Engineers has been front and center with us as has the National Guard. All the pieces have come together to really give us the kind of response we've been able to do and the Governor and I are very grateful for the help that they're giving us.

Yeager: I just had one more note from this person, they think Iowa knows what they're doing in the situation. So, we take that as a good step in the right direction. This is another DOT question, we knew we'd get a bunch of these, Kevin. I-80, we know it's open now, right? There are roads that are closed but Interstate wise everything is open, correct?

Mahoney: Everything is open on the Interstate, yes.

Yeager: And then we have U.S. Highways whether it's 52 or 30 or 20, where is the biggest conglomerate or concentration that these places are closed right now? Is it still southeast or are we in spots where the road has washed out?

Mahoney: Obviously still some remnants of closures in Iowa City/Coralville area and then as you work your way south down the Iowa and the Cedar basin toward Burlington. Almost every crossroad there is closed. U.S. 61 in the Wapello area is closed. We talked about that this morning. It looks like there are some things that we can handle in pretty short order after we get the bridges inspected so we hope to get that open in the next day or so.

Yeager: You talk about conference calls. What has the DOT been doing? Is it daily? In the height of the flood waters are you having hourly conference calls? What are those calls and what are you talking about?

Mahoney: We started internal conference calls when it was becoming readily apparent that the Interstate was in jeopardy, not to minimize any of the other closures, but the wall of water in the Cedar basin was such that it was apparent that Interstate 80 was going to be in jeopardy, in fact, there was six feet of water over the Interstate for the better part of four days and the road has been there almost 50 years and never had that kind of problem before.

Yeager: So, you've never seen it closed and you've never probably seen a 110 mile detour in the state of Iowa?

Mahoney: It was 110 out of distance part of the detour. The day that we worked on that and decided that we had announced that as a detour there was too many problems between there and U.S. 20 to announce that was a viable option for motorists and commercial traffic, it just became impossible with all the trouble around Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. Once you get off the Interstate we have some arterials obviously in the commercial, industrial network and the national highway system like U.S. 30, U.S. 61, that type of thing that we want to try to get up and running so people can have the mobility that they need in order to conduct business and their family matters. And then all the other roads, they're almost equal now. I don't think you can separate, you'd be splitting hairs to separate many of them.

Yeager: There's plenty of Web sites, our Web site, your Web site, can try to answer some of those if you are planning to make a trip. Tom, this is a report and I would imagine you've had a few of these and Lieutenant Governor, maybe you can answer this one too. But there was a report out of Cedar Rapids recently that a 15 gallon barrel of Agent Orange that the military stored that it was washed down the river. So, they want to know why people aren't being warned about this danger and has it been located? First, is there such a barrel? I don't know if either one of you can answer that it was washed down that you've been made aware of?

Judge: I do not know of that.

Yeager: So, let's talk about some of these rumors, Lieutenant Governor. So many things can come up where they hear the city is going to do this or the county is going to do this. How do you as a head of state try to alleviate some of those rumors and try to keep people in a sense of calm?

Judge: Well, there has been a tremendous amount of rumors and we have tried to get factual information out as quickly and as often as we possibly can and we will continue to do that. And I would, again, suggest if people have concerns that they call the numbers that you're posting, that they call the Iowa Concern Hotline and let us know that and we'll try to get a straight answer. Debris removal is something that we are concerned about, it's something we're trying to act very, very quickly upon and we will continue to do that. I know people are concerned and they have a right to be concerned because there are lots of things that were washed into the rivers that we don't like to have there. And we're dealing with it as quickly as we can and maybe Tom can talk a little more about that.

Newton: We're dealing with local public health departments who are asking us a number of questions. They're getting calls from their constituents. Can I go back into my home? What kind of chemicals, bacteria do we need to be worried about? And basically what we're doing is telling people to take precautions that they would normally take if they're going into an environment like that. We want them to wear eyewear, we want them to wear a respirator to cover up to prevent dust and dirt and any dried chemicals from getting into their system. We want to make sure they're wearing gloves and they're washing their hands to prevent any kind of exposure that may occur in there. Certainly they ran into this problem in Louisiana that they had all the contaminants that came into it. I don't think we're in the same boat as they were. They had a number of chemical plants down there that were flooded but we do have a lot of herbicides and pesticides in this state and so people need to be mindful about that and limit their time in the flood waters.

Yeager: Let's talk just one more question here, Tom, about mold. You kind of mentioned it a little bit. We've seen video of where drywall, they've take it to hip high where the water was. People need to do that if they're cleaning up because mold can build, start to build in some of those areas or what are the dangers? Is that going to be something we're going to be having a conversation about in the next three to six months?

Newton: Mold is probably going to be within the next two to three weeks. It doesn't take very long for mold to grow. Right now you're probably not seeing any more mold in those buildings than there was in the first place. It takes heat and it takes moisture to create mold and an environment in which it can grow. It isn't going to grow under the water that's in there right now. But once that water recedes and it gets a chance those spores will set into the drywall. People need to work pretty quickly and make sure they're using a bleach water solution to clean down areas. That will kill off the mold. Taking precautions if they had drywall that was very seriously flooded it's probably a good idea to lop it off and just replace it.

Yeager: Karen, there has been city councils that have gotten upset with one another that have started to get tense and there's been some shouting matches, there's been cities where the residents have tried to yell their frustrations, not to civilly talk about them. People are getting frustrated right now. What is the best course of action, whether they have a right to be frustrated or not, to try to not suppress that anger but deal with some of these issues that we're going to have a build up of things that might be festering?

Hyatt: I think one of the things that is very helpful in situations where people are becoming anxious and they're getting angry if they can't get through a road that's closed is for the personnel that is working the disaster to also remain very calm and to treat the individuals with respect that are going through anxious moments. I think that is very important. People also need to remember that everybody is experiencing stress and you don't have to be a person who lost their home or their car or their job to be feeling anxious. A lot of people in Iowa know people, they have relatives, it's hard to find someone who isn't talking about it or has a personal experience. But if you're feeling anxious and you're feeling like you're tensing up and you're handing things in ways that are not productive or how you wouldn't take a look at what you're doing. Are you getting enough sleep? Are you taking care of yourself? Eating the appropriate foods? Are you taking your medication? A lot of people lost their medication in the floods and had difficulty getting those renewed right away. Some of those affect mood disorders. Are you diabetic? Are you taking your insulin? Self-care is very important in times where people are stretched in many different directions. So, I would encourage taking a look at self-care, if you're feeling anxious and not being able to control that make sure you get appropriate help in your community. If you don't know where to go for help you can call the Iowa Concern Hotline, again, you can call 211-HOTLINE, ask the question where can I go to get some appropriate help and follow up on that. But I think even if you come across someone that is being anxious towards you it's very important not to enter into that and just to remain calm and treat that person with respect.

Yeager: Try to walk the other way.

Hyatt: And if the person has a mental illness, you know, they've also been through the disaster and you still need to treat that person with the same respect and understanding, give them the same information and be calm. I think that would take care of a lot of that.

Yeager: Very good advice. Lieutenant Governor, are we going to see FEMA trailers coming to the state?

Judge: The infamous trailers from Louisiana as I understand were like the travel trailers.

Yeager: Yes, not the Louisiana trailers, of course, but new ones that could come in. Really as we talk about housing there's not much housing in rural areas.

Judge: I do not think we will see the travel trailers that they have seen before but we are going to have to address very quickly the fact that there are communities that are now facing an extreme shortage of housing. The small town of Pelo is almost totally destroyed. There's literally no homes available in Pelo, Oakville. I talked to the mayor in Cedar Rapids today and she is estimating over 1000 homes in Cedar Rapids or families that will not be able to go back into their homes at all or at least quickly. So, we are going to have to work very, very hard to find housing for people. We do not want them to leave Iowa, we want them to stay here and help us grow Iowa and so we're going to work hard to try to help them find a nice place to live.

Yeager: Yet again, another follow up to before our conversations in southeast Iowa the previous advice about calling the 800 FEMA number is not true according to this person in Henderson County, Illinois. She was told by FEMA that until the President declares the country a national emergency -- first of all, is there such a thing, a federal disaster declaration, but is there another level above that?

Judge: I am not aware of that. Here in Iowa our Governor declared 83 counties as Governor's disasters. We then immediately ask for a federal declaration or presidential declaration for those 83 counties. The assessment is done on a county by county basis by FEMA and once they establish that there is in fact a legitimate disaster that reaches their threshold then that county by county is declared. And here in Iowa we've had very good results. We have, I believe, 55 out of the 83 right now that have been declared presidential disasters so it's a process. It's not fast and I understand, you know, that that part of Illinois is just now into the flood fighting stage and I would say in a day or two, I know it's hard to wait, but in a day or two I would think they will get their designation.

Yeager: That will be coming. Dave, we haven't talked to you in a little while, let's get back a little bit, we're going to have plenty of question on tomorrow night's Market to Market broadcast but I want to ask about dredging when it comes to lakes, rivers, streams. Is farming going to get a little bit of blame on some of these rivers, specifically Coralville -- we've gotten a question here about well the reason Coralville couldn't hold is because there's all this farmland in it. What would be the take on environmental practices in terms of no till farming or other dykes, other terraces whether it's Farm Bureau advice or just farming advice in general what do you think how Farm Bureau will be playing a role in these discussions?

Miller: I think it's very important for the viewers to realize that our agriculture, most of the conservation structures and water control structures out in our fields were designed for ten year rain events. That is really the level that we designed fields for or the type of intensity of rain events that happen once every ten years. Many of our secondary structures at the stream level are designed for 25 to 50 year events. This was a 500 year rain event. It overwhelmed even the Army Corp of Engineer type of structures of Saylorville, etc. So, when you put a rain event that is magnitudes greater than what we experience none of the structures out there are designed to handle that. So, the answer is yes, there clearly was some silting, there's movement of soil, those types of things but that's part of this type of a major disaster. This was not normalcy, this was the extreme of abnormal. And so I think farmers are doing a lot of work, the fact that we have a lot of conservation structures in place in Iowa, we have terraces, we have a fair amount of no till, about half the land in Iowa is no tilled every year, we have grassed waterways, all these type of events actually help mitigate the flow of that water until they become overwhelmed. And once water overwhelms an area whatever structure is underneath it becomes, it's not the confining feature. The recovery in agriculture is going to be one of the longer term recoveries in terms of fields. We're likely, some of these rivers where we've had ten and twenty feet of water coursing with 30, 40 mile an hour currents has left debris, there are trees and a lot of debris left out in some of these fields. Some fields we're probably going to find feet of silting in these fields, there are just a lot of damage that this type of a rain event does. The farmers were not the problem here, the problems were simply acts of nature, acts of God.

Yeager: Do we think we might even see some new channels in some rivers if it's possible that's something that could happen too, a farmer who thought he had a field there now is part of the Iowa rivers?

Miller: Well, I can speak to that myself. I have a farm down in Lucas County and when White Breast Creek broke through about 60 feet of river bank I've got the start of a new channel cut through a field and it's cut about three and a half feet deep. Now, I've got to go in and start recovering that and figuring out how to rebuild that because that's not where we want that channel to be. But the force of water is just tremendous. Water can move an awful lot of material as we found, as we tried to build dykes and other things to control it.

Yeager: We've seen plenty of pictures to the evidence of that. Kevin, I want to ask about -- I know the DOT has sand that goes into trucks that go for snow events. There's sand that goes to sandbags. How much does the DOT get involved with disseminating sand? Are they the ones who provide sand for sandbags or is that more of a county or city issue?

Mahoney: We get involved in all of that once the Governor declares a county as a disaster area then it allows state resources to be used for local efforts. And we've hauled sand, we've hauled sandbags, we've moved pumps, we've stationed commodities around in our different field maintenance garages in order to distribute it more economically, more efficiently.

Yeager: So, what about these used sandbags that are in some spots? Will you have to then go on the back end and pick up some of these? Where would those used sandbags go?

Mahoney: I think each county has kind of their own plan on how they want to deal with the sandbags. I remember years ago in the flood prior to 1993 when I was over in eastern Iowa some of the sandbags were broken open and used for part of a roadway embankment so it went to some positive use. As far as re-pick up we're currently engaged from the Department of Transportation over in Cedar Rapids on a mission for debris pick up, we have almost 70 employees over there from all over the state and associated equipment working in Cedar Rapids in debris pick up and I would imagine sandbags would be part of that.

Yeager: What about some of the tainted sandbags, Tom Newton? Are those things that we need to avoid? Or are those -- if we have one of those in our homes should we try to put those on a curb to let our city or our county take care of them? Or should we cut them for our own yard?

Newton: I think that what you'd probably find is it would be perfectly safe to cut that and put that in your own yard. I think it would be perfectly safe. There's probably some bacterial contamination but no real difference than what you have in the soil in your ground in your front yard or backyard. So, I think it would be safe.

Yeager: Another follow up question on the clean up issue. What is the best or proper cleaning solution for basements? Is it bleach and water? Is that the best that we can have? Straight bleach?

Newton: No, no, you want a bleach and water solution. If you go out on our Web site you're going to find information on that, the Iowa Department of Public Health, I would imagine ISU extension has some information on that as well. But if you use a bleach and water solution that's going to be enough to kill off any mold spores that are there and really prevent it from getting set in your drywall.

Yeager: Lieutenant Governor, you said you had talked to the mayor of Cedar Rapids earlier, when the water goes down do you know what the procedure or what it's going to be to let some of those folks back into their homes? Have you had any conversation? Are they going to follow the same rule where they did it on Sunday where it was a checkpoint system and you could go in, any light you can shed on that?

Judge: I'll try. It is very important that people stay safe. Our most important part of this entire episode is that we make certain that people stay safe. There's lots of things that can happen in that house after the family left and among those may be basement walls caving in, loose electricity, the gas valves that are open, natural gas build up in the houses. It is really important that the house is checked out before people go back. So, an assessment team is working in every community as quickly as they can to go into the house, that includes someone from the utilities who can check the electricity and gas and make a determination whether or not the house is safe for re-entry and the moment it is they put a green tag on the door. If you get a red tag on the door you've got a problem.

Yeager: I would imagine there's some frustration, Karen, I don't know if you saw the pictures out of Cedar Rapids on Friday where there were homeowners very upset about that. We kind of talked about channeling some of that. Patience, understanding, we just can't preach that enough.

Hyatt: That's true and I think that homeowners also need to recognize the Lieutenant Governor has just said that safety is the key factor and if a person isn't being let into an area it's not a personal issue, it's a safety issue and I think the more that we stress that people will realize that it's not about their home, it's not about them as an individual, it's because Iowa is trying to keep them safe and timing is everything, even in this.

Yeager: Hard to believe we're in our final five minutes of the program tonight, or final few minutes that is and there are resources available at iptv.org from all the organizations that are represented here tonight. Another question for Kevin Mahoney of the Department of Transportation. Will the department when it looks to rebuild roads or if there is a plan, say they look at rebuilding I-80, would they look to avoid certain areas or other roads, would they look to avoid areas that have flooded in the past? Would they build them higher? Would they maybe be in a wetland? I don't know if they are in a wetland but would they go different places? Is there an adjustment of the policy in the way the DOT where they actually build roads?

Mahoney: No, I don't see that happening. In this case we would rebuild the roads in their existing location.

Yeager: Would there be any that might be higher in some locations?

Mahoney: Very doubtful.

Yeager: And the reason for that?

Mahoney: Most of those areas that are severely damaged are the low point adjacent to the bridge. Had the road bed been higher we probably wouldn't have a bridge.

Yeager: Again, iptv.org for any of the questions. Let's see, this one looks like it's a question for Kevin, again. They live in Nichols, Iowa so that's in the Muscatine County area. They said they've been landlocked since the flood. Do you know about Highway 92 near Columbus Junction or Highway 61 to get to Muscatine, when any of those might go open? Have you been looking or do you know any of the answers to this question?

Mahoney: I believe the water receded enough on Iowa 92 near Columbus Junction that we had an assessment today that looked like we would be able to open that, at least one lane, with our own field forces. 61, I think I mentioned, in the Wapello area in the river bottoms I think that will open up here in the next day or so.

Yeager: Do you have a total yet on how many miles of roads were closed? Do we know what that total is yet?

Mahoney: Around 500 miles. About 125 miles of that sustained significant damage that needed some level of repair.

Yeager: And you're talking just state roads, right?

Mahoney: Just state roads.

Yeager: So there's county and city roads that are closed and would be a much higher number than that. Lieutenant Governor, I have another question, it looks like they're following up on the no FEMA trailers here. Reminder, we're just in the final few minutes so we'll have to move along. They said no FEMA trailers will be coming in. What will be done for housing for the poor and the elderly and how long will shelters be open?

Judge: Shelters will be open as long as they need to be, as long as people have a need for shelters we'll make certain that that is provided. In many communities there is some existing housing, there are apartments that are available. Often times they have some income restrictions on them, we know we can wave that and make that housing available. Again, the cities that are really concerning us are those cities like Pelo where just literally everything is gone. In that case we are going to have to think very creatively, those discussions began today with FEMA and we will continue those until we solve the problem.

Yeager: What type of relationship in terms of business -- we talk about housing -- but what things can be done business wise to get some of these -- we saw the pictures, again, in Cedar Rapids, of where water was up to the ceiling -- business wise what way can we move forward?

Judge: Well, businesses, of course, have been impacted there and, in fact, the large employers in Cedar Rapids, many of them are not operating tonight or today. And we, again, are beginning discussions with them to see how we can assist them as a state. It is our desire to get Cedar Rapids up and running as quickly as we can. They really, really took it on the chin in this event and our hearts are out to all of them but as we said at the beginning of this program, we're tough and we are resilient and we will rebuild.

Yeager: Again, frustrated advice, if you can give one, regardless of what county it is, if you think that the state is not listening or the federal government is not listening who should they call, how should they go and try to get answers to some of their questions?

Judge: The easiest way, the best way here in Iowa to call if you have a question is to call the Iowa Concern Hotline. That, again, is 1-800-447-1985. They are taking in all kinds of calls, they are routing those calls then to the appropriate agency or the appropriate place. And if you do have a concern we want to hear from you, we want this to work and we want to be responsive.

Yeager: Very good and you can find all the information or all the numbers that we've talked about or the Web sites of the groups that are here is on iptv.org. I do want to thank the entire panel for coming in tonight, very good discussion. Again, Iowa Public Television, iptv.org you can find out more information. And that will do it for this edition of The Iowa Journal. Before we go a reminder Market to Market will be providing a special call-in tomorrow evening following the Market to Market broadcast to address the needs of Iowa farmers specifically. And next Thursday, The Iowa Journal will examine the impact of disasters of '08, what they're having on Iowa's children and how we can help. Until then, I'm Paul Yeager. Thank you for watching. Good night.

Funding for The Iowa Journal has been provided by "Friends", the Iowa Public Television Foundation, generations of families and friends who feel passionate about Iowa Public Television programs. And by MidAmerican Energy Company, helping to harness renewable sources of electricity through its investment in wind power. Information is available at midamericanenergy.com. MidAmerican Energy, obsessively, relentlessly at your service. And by Medicap Pharmacy, your locally owned and operated community pharmacy, proudly serving Iowans since 1971. Pharmacy locations and up-to-date health information is available at medicap.com. Medicap Pharmacy, we'll always make time for you.