Boswell Tours Storm Damage in Grundy County

Congressman Boswell and Dennis Judkins, Review Appraiser with the Farm Service Agency, chart their route to view hailstorm damage in Grundy County. (Mitch Traphagen Photo)

Des Moines, Ia. – Congressman Leonard Boswell took to the sky this week to survey crop damage caused by a severe hailstorm that hit Grundy County earlier this month. The Congressman has pledged to support state officials who will seek disaster funds for the county and its residents.

“After viewing the damage firsthand, I will do everything in my power to help Grundy County and those impacted by this devastating storm,” Boswell said. “I understand the struggles faced every day by farmers and the financial hardships that come when their crops are damaged.”

The Congressman flew Dennis Judkins, a Review Appraiser with the Farm Service Agency [FSA], in his Piper Comanche airplane from the Ankeny Regional Airport to the West-Central portion of Grundy County on Monday to view the damage from the air. After Judkins returned from the flight, he characterized the storm’s impact on the land as “very severe” with “[soy]beans beaten down” and “corn stalks stripped.”

Bill Arndorfer, the Iowa State University Extension Education Director for Grundy County, said that the August 9th storm ravaged a five to six mile wide strip of land starting at the western part of Grundy County and roughly following along the Highway 175 corridor. The Des Moines Register reported that the weather system produced softball-sized hail and 70 mph winds.

State and county officials are in the process of requesting disaster funds to help the residents and farmers affected by the severe weather in Grundy County and other counties. The State Emergency Board will meet this week to review county damage assessment reports ordered by the Iowa Governor’s Office. The Board will then make an official request to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Emergency Board for disaster funds.

Congressman Boswell has pledged to write a letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack urging him to come through with funding for the impacted area. He has also personally spoken with FSA State Executive Director John Whitaker, who will use the low-level photos that were taken from the Congressman’s plane in the State Emergency Board meeting this week.

If you are a farmer that has been impacted by severe weather, the Iowa State University Extension Office offers information on assessing crop damage, emergency forages, salvaging hail damaged crops, foliar fungicide use, silage harvest and grain harvest issues on its Web site at http://www.extension.iastate.edu/disasterrecovery/.