Snowmelt, rain wreak havoc on rural roads

Warm temperatures and persistent rain created big headaches for county officials.

On Wednesday, March 13, the Franklin County Board of Supervisors issued a disaster declaration due to flooding as a result of the rain and melting snow.

Franklin County Emergency Management Coordinator Thomas Craighton said the declaration allows the county to utilize extra resources to fight flood damage.

“What this does is open lines of communication between us and (Iowa Homeland Security) division,” he said. “If we need state resources, we can use those. I stage multiple state resources such as flood pumps and sand bags and none of those can move until there is a declaration.”

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