Iowa
Clean-up uncovers uncertainty for northwest Iowa flood victims
Mud and memories line the streets of a neighborhood in Rock Valley, a place that Cheri and Steve Gacke have called home for 30 years. They sit in chairs near the front door, exhausted and stunned.
“Yeah — so, it’s all gone — no insurance,” Steve said.
Sheila Brummer
/
Iowa Public Radio
In their yard, and in their neighbor’s, are piles of debris: mattresses, soaked sofas, clothing, appliances, photos and more.
This is a rural area of the state, so farmers joined the clean-up with their tractors, payloaders and other equipment to help with the heavy lifting.
They were a welcome sight to Rob Jansen. His mother lives across the street.
Sheila Brummer
/
Iowa Public Radio
“Getting rid of everything that came out of the main floor so far, then we got the whole basement,” Jansen said. “I don’t wish this on anyone, but it’s nice to see all the volunteers and all the hard work — lots is getting done.”
Escape from rising waters
Almost everything inside the Gacke home was destroyed after a surge from the Rock River shot over a protective berm and rushed through their lives in the middle of the night.
“I heard a beep — beep — beep — there was a big truck trying to back because he couldn’t get down the street because it was flooded, and that woke me up,” Cheri said.
“Within five minutes, it was coming in,” Steve said. “It was coming into the walls of the basement, and we decided we had better get out.”
“It was coming into the walls of the basement, and we decided we had better get out.”
Steve Gacke, Rock Valley resident
“We looked out and knew we had to walk through the water,” Cheri added. “And, so we walked a good block-and-a-half, and then we could get up on the grass. And then we walked over to the swimming pool, and people picked us up and brought us to Faith Church.”
They escaped with just the clothes on their backs and another dry set in their hands. Others needed to be rescued by boat and National Guard helicopter.
As they discussed the aftermath of the flood, the sound of generators, pumps and heavy equipment sometimes overpowered their conversation. The Gackes talked about being married for almost 40 years and how, after another flood, they decided to stay.
Sheila Brummer
/
Iowa Public Radio
“But they built these dikes and everything,” Steve said. “So, we felt that we were safe enough to redo our basement and added onto our garage — and it’s now worse than it was ten years ago.”
Steve’s voice broke, and he became emotional when he talked about what was in the garage.
“This is the first car I ever bought — a ‘74 Satellite,” he said.
He regretted leaving it behind when the water started to rise. They focused on moving a few items out of the basement instead. He looked at a photo of what the car used to be — white and pristine.
“Now, it’s just black,” he added.
Exploring the damage
Gov. Kim Reynolds privately toured the town of 4,000 by ATV and said 500 homes experienced some level of damage — from backed-up sewers to the unsalvageable.
“This is unprecedented, historic flooding. Where we’re breaking all records, sadly, with what we’ve experienced over the last couple of days,” Reynolds said.
She also visited Hawarden, Cherokee, Rock Rapids and Spencer — locations where rain-swollen rivers couldn’t handle 15 or more inches of water in just a few days.
The governor requested and received a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration for some of the most impacted areas. This allows the Federal Emergency Management Agency to assess the damage and aid homeowners, renters and businesses.
The Gackes could use that assistance.
“We worked full-time for years and years, and saved our money,” Cheri said. “And when we have money, we would fix up the house. We thought we could finally retire.”
Flood forced a detour
Now the Gackes are talking about starting over, at almost the age of 70, far from here. Rock Valley experienced another flood four years ago, in addition to one a decade earlier. And now, this new crisis. Three episodes in a decade.
“… we’re leaving town — we’re going to go to Oklahoma.”
Steve Gacke, Rock Valley resident
“We’re leaving, we’re leaving town,” Steve Gacke said. “We’re going to go to Oklahoma.”
They plan on staying with their daughter and her family there.
Another daughter, Jen Arendt, appreciated the volunteers as they packed up dishes, cups and platters inside cabinets in the kitchen. Because of closed roads, she had to wait two days to come help.
“I saw pictures online when I couldn’t get here, and it was devastating,” Arendt said. “But being here is heartbreaking. Everyone lost everything, everything they worked for is in a pile in the front yard, and it’s pretty hard.”
Jen also had a plan, and it involved her dad’s car. That car is the one he took her mom on dates in, and their honeymoon. It’s the one he drove Jen and her sister home from the hospital in after their births.
“Everyone’s rallying around, and we’re going to keep it for him,” she said. “We’re going to restore it.”
DES MOINES, Iowa (Gray Media Iowa State Capitol Bureau) — U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson told Gray Media Iowa that he got briefed late Thursday afternoon, a few hours before President Donald Trump gave a prime-time speech to make his latest claims about election fraud.
“Yeah, I just got off of a telephone call literally in the motorcade as we were driving here,” Johnson said after arriving at a campaign appearance with U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R – 1st District, Ottumwa) at a Pella bakery.
Miller-Meeks is running for re-election in what is again considered a competitive race with Democrat Christina Bohannan, a University of Iowa law professor from Iowa City.
This is the third straight election that the two will meet in a general election.
Johnson said the “off the record” intelligence briefing to leaders in the U.S. House and Senate previewed Trump’s new election fraud claims. He called it “blockbuster information.”
“It’s the result of an investigation that’s been ongoing for some time now about fraud and irregularity in in federal elections, American elections around the country,” Johnson said.
Gray Media Iowa asked Johnson whether he believes congressional colleagues were elected because of fraud.
He did not directly answer that question.
“…everybody’s going to be able to evaluate all that information on their own, and it will lead to other investigations, I’m certain,” Johnson said of the briefing.
He added, “we’ll have to see where all this goes.”
For years, Trump has alleged widespread fraud that cost him the 2020 election. Trump has lost dozens of court cases on the matter.
On January 7, 2021, Congress certified his defeat to Democrat Joe Biden, a day after Trump supporters rushed the U.S. Capitol Building. Some attacked law enforcement officers and damaged the outside and inside of the building.
After returning to office in 2025, President Trump pardoned supporters for their crimes.
Copyright 2026 Gray Media Iowa State Capitol Bureau. All rights reserved.
With the college football season right around the corner, the Iowa State Cyclones will be hoping to have a strong campaign with a new regime coming in. However, a lot of their success might depend on one key player.
Following the departure of Matt Campbell to the Penn State Nittany Lions, the Cyclones saw their roster get completely gutted. Most of their players entered the transfer portal, leaving new head coach Jimmy Rogers with plenty of work to do.
Fortunately, Rogers and the coaching staff were able to get out there and bring in a lot of new players from all over the country. While Iowa State might be lacking star power and aren’t going to be as talented as they were last year, they do have a good amount of depth.
There should be quite a bit of competition for spots in camp, but there are some players who should clearly be starters that transferred in.
Pete Nakos of On3 recently predicted who would be the starting quarterback for every team in the Big 12. Unsurprisingly for the Cyclones, it was Jaylen Raynor who was the choice.
Raynor an Easy Pick
After bringing in the three-year starter from the Arkansas State Red Wolves, Raynor instantly became the favorite to be the starter for the Cyclones in Week 1. Him being predicted as that guy should come as no surprise, and his ability to play against elevated competition on a weekly basis will be key.
There is a lot to like about Raynor’s game, and he could certainly help Iowa State exceed expectations next year.
Last season with the Red Wolves, he totaled 3,361 passing yards, 19 passing touchdowns, and a 66.5 completion percentage. It was career-highs for him in all three of those categories, showing some nice improvement in his junior season.
As a dual-threat player, he also totaled a career-high in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns. The junior recorded 423 yards on the ground to go along with seven rushing scores.
Overall, the numbers for Raynor were really solid, and there is reason to believe he might be even better in his senior season. For the Cyclones, with all of the new players on the roster, there will undoubtedly be some competition for starting spots around the field. However, it should certainly be Raynor who is under center to start.
Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – Syringes from injectable weight loss medications are turning up in drug drop-off boxes across eastern Iowa, creating a safety hazard for law enforcement officers who handle the containers.
Sgt. Erich Lear of the Linn County Sheriff’s Office said emptying the drug drop-off box is part of his daily routine — and the box fills fast.
“It’s probably a 30-gallon tote, and I’d say 3 out of the five days of the week it’s completely full,” Lear said.
Needles found mixed in with other medications
Lear said he has noticed over the past five years that people are placing medicine, nasal sprays and syringes in the bin. He said many of the syringes come from people discarding GLP-1 medications such as Ozempic and Wegovy.
“That tote that I pull out — there’s nothing that protects me from needles other than my observation and using gloves when I sort through things,” Lear said.
The Hiawatha Police Department said it is also seeing an increase in improperly discarded syringes.
Where syringes should go
The Cedar Rapids Linn County Solid Waste Agency is the proper disposal site for sharps. The agency said it has seen syringe intake increase by more than a ton in recent years.
“We’re talking about two thousand pounds of sharps and syringes coming in,” said Joe Horaney of the solid waste agency. “Before 2021 we were around 1.9, maybe 2 tons a year — now we are over 3 tons a year.”
Horaney said any Linn County resident can bring syringes to the facility, provided they are contained properly.
“We just ask that you have it in a heavy plastic container — so one of those medically certified red biohazard containers,” Horaney said. “If you don’t have that, it can be a heavy plastic container like an old laundry detergent [bottle].”
A third-party company picks up the sharps from the facility and incinerates them.
Some drop-off programs discontinued
Lear said another reason sharps are appearing at drop-off locations is that some agencies have ended their disposal programs. The Marion Police Department said it stopped offering the service after people continued to place broken glass, liquids and other garbage inside the box.
Copyright 2026 KCRG. All rights reserved.
-
Florida2 minutes agoFlorida TODAY: Homes get expensive, license to blush, fuzzy invader
-
Georgia8 minutes agoGeorgia Youth Symphony Orchestra Announces Expanded Artistic Leadership Team for 2026–2027 Season
-
Hawaii14 minutes agoTraffic fatalities in Hawaii ticked up after Memorial Day – The Garden Island
-
Idaho19 minutes agoChina Landslide
-
Illinois26 minutes agoHillsboro grad, Springfield golfer Alex Eickhoff 2nd at state amateur
-
Indiana32 minutes ago
Where to watch Seattle Storm vs Indiana Fever on July 17: TV channel, start time and streaming
-
Iowa38 minutes agoUS House Speaker campaigning in Iowa responds to President’s election fraud claims
-
Kentucky50 minutes agoJune unemployment rate shows slight increase in Kentucky Center for Statistics latest report
