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.”

The Iowa Baseball Camp for the Deaf offers children in the deaf community the chance to socialize, meet other deaf or hard-of-hearing kids, and play ball.

For Dylan Heuer, the director and founder of Iowa Baseball Camp for the Deaf (IBCD), it’s important for deaf or hard-of-hearing kids to have the experience because, sometimes, being deaf or hard-of-hearing is isolating.

“A lot of times, they’ll just be like the only deaf person in their family, or even the only deaf person in their whole school building,” Heuer, who is deaf, said through an interpreter.

He modeled the camp after his own camp experience growing up, teaming up with the Iowa Cubs and a local Sertoma club, a foundation that offers funding for deaf or hard-of-hearing organizations.

“I love baseball and I love that experience I had as a camper and I just really wanted to share it with the community and feel like I could give back to deaf and hard-of-hearing students in that way,” Heuer said. “Deaf and hard-of-hearing students a lot of times are pretty isolated.”

Heuer established IBCD in 2015. Since then, it has grown from around 20 kids and volunteers to nearly 40 kids and volunteers this year. The weeklong camp takes place at the Johnston Little League facility.

“It almost becomes a one-to-one ratio, which is really cool and a lot more people looking forward to camp every year,” Heuer said. “It’s become really popular for the deaf community.”

Katy Faircloth, a volunteer from Ankeny, has been a volunteer at IBCD almost every year since 2015.

“Seeing all these deaf adults supporting deaf children is my favorite,” Faircloth said. “The coaches learn to communicate with the kids, treat them like their hearing peers, and use support from interpreters and deaf adults to make them feel part of a team. … They really are playing baseball.”

The kids in the camp are ages 7 to 14 and are separated into two age groups. One is for younger kids who are first-time IBCD campers, and the other is for older IBCD returners.

Emilee Cervetti, a 9-year-old from Johnston, said her favorite part of the camp is being around others who also use sign language.

“My favorite part is that the people sign, and that’s really cool because I can understand what they’re saying,” she said.

More: ‘Let me have a chance’: How running back Demarico Young overcame deafness, homelessness to thrive

She first learned about the camp from her mom and is interested in continuing her baseball journey because of the camp.

Last year’s camp brought together 10-year-old Bowen Tubaugh from Centerville and 9-year-old Maverick Lukowicz from Davenport and they are still best friends.

“It’s pretty awesome,” Tubaugh said.

The camp, which ends Friday, doesn’t just focus on drills and practice games. Campers will go to the Iowa Cubs vs. St. Paul Saints game Thursday and play a game of their own at Principal Park on Friday.

At Thursday’s game, which also is the Iowa Cub’s Deaf Culture Night, two of the campers will throw the first pitch for the game. They also will sign the national anthem during the seventh-inning stretch.

Iowa Cubs players, for the first time in team history, will wear special jerseys that spell out “Iowa” in sign language.

“I’m really proud that this is actually happening because I see the kids enjoying themselves, I see these big smiles on their faces,” Heuer said. “I’m proud to see all of these volunteers and staff come and want to be involved in these kids’ lives.”

Kyle Werner is a reporter for the Register. Reach him at kwerner@dmreg.com.

DES MOINES, Iowa (Gray Television Iowa Capitol Bureau) – An Iowa candidate for Congress is alleging the incumbent congressman will do things to hurt the Social Security system, but he’s not offering any of his own solutions.

Social Security reserves will run out in 11 years if Congress doesn’t act. That means recipients would only get 83% of their full benefits. 50% of seniors get half of their monthly income from Social Security. One in four seniors rely on Social Security for 90% of their monthly income.

Democratic congressional candidate Lanon Baccam, who is running against incumbent republican Zach Nunn in Iowa’s 3rd congressional district, held a press call Wednesday with the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare and the Iowa Alliance for Retired Americans. Baccam told reporters Nunn would raise the retirement age and cut benefits.

Baccam was asked repeatedly what his solution is.

“I’m not going to cut benefits here. Where Zach Nunn is, he is trying to shutter these offices. That’s going to limit the program delivery. He’s trying to raise the retirement age. That’s going to hurt folks who work for a living. These are clear distinctions here for what he’s trying to do with his position on Social Security versus mine. There’s no question I’m focusing in on and paying attention to Americans and Iowans who work for a living on this campaign and we need a champion for them in Congress and I will be that person,” Baccam said.

My colleague Dave Price and I both followed up and Baccam was unable to provide specific solutions.

“Hi, it’s Dave Price. So, are you keeping the status quo then? Are you not suggesting any changes?”

“There’s no question. We cannot cut this program. I will oppose any cuts to this program especially for our seniors who have paid into these programs for many years. They’re entitled to these benefits. They should be able to retire with dignity. I will not cut any of these programs that have been proposed by Zach Nunn and his groups,” Baccam said.

“This is Conner Hendricks. Do you actually have any proposed solutions though to this? You know, you say you’re not going to cut and you say that Nunn’s a threat but do you have specific solutions for this?”

“The first thing here is we need to protect it. Zach Nunn currently is prepared to cut Social Security, to raise the retirement age, to reduce the amount of offices or hours of operation like limiting the ability for Social Security to be able to deliver on their program. We at the very minimum have to make sure that we protect this program and Zach Nunn is threatening even that and so I think that’s critically important here for folks to understand and appreciate that Zach Nunn is not going to maintain even the status quo here. He is trying to cut this program. He will do it if given the chance.”

Congressman Nunn’s office tells us that no, he does not favor raising the retirement age. He also says he’s never voted to close or reduce hours Social Security offices.

“When the government created Social Security and Medicare, it made a promise to retirees. I am 100% committed to protecting that promise and strongly oppose any cuts to these programs. Any suggestion to the contrary is simply false. I am actively leading bipartisan solutions to protect these critical programs from out-of-touch politicians in D.C.,” Nunn said.

We also asked Nunn what solutions for Social Security he’d support. His office says he’d support reforms that root out waste, fraud, and abuse by bureaucrats.

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Conner Hendricks covers state government and politics for Gray Television-owned stations in Iowa. Email him at conner.hendricks@gray.tv; and follow him on Facebook at Conner Hendricks TV or on X/Twitter @ConnerReports.

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