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.

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.

“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.”

“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.

“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, 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.”