As the swollen Mississippi and Missouri rivers slowly recede, communities across the Midwest are starting to add up the damage and make plans for repairs with the help of federal aid.
AccuWeather estimates $12.5 billion in damages and losses from flooding across the Midwest this spring, which would make it one of the costliest flood events in the region in more than a decade. But many state and local officials say they have barely begun tallying the costs.
“We’ve seen the tornadoes, we’ve seen rain, we’ve seen the rivers and creeks flooded,” said Sam Funk, senior economist for the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation. “You can’t even say it’s a black swan event. The black swan wouldn’t even want to swim in these waters.”
All but two of the 15 states through which the Missouri and Mississippi rivers flow have received federal disaster declarations for storms and multiple rounds of flooding this spring.
An expanded version of this report can be found at WSJ.com
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