LE MARS—The Plymouth County Search and Recovery Dive Team rescued 36 people on Saturday and Sunday, June 22-23.
The volunteer dive team’s efforts were commended by the Plymouth County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, June 25. A formal commendation will be made at the Tuesday, July 9, meeting.
Dive team members did heroic work “in spite of significant danger and personal risk,” the commendation stated. It praised team members Joel Johnson, Pat Heissel, Cole Heissel, Cheryl Heissel, Hunter Fedders, Matt Fedders, Tommy Mullally and Jamie Vander Helm for their “bravery, professionalism, skill and valor as volunteers of this widely respected dive team.”
Plymouth County Sheriff Jeff TeBrink said the dive team responded to four calls over the weekend from people in need of immediate assistance.
At 2:17 a.m. Saturday, June 22, his office received a mutual aid request from the Sioux County Sheriff’s Office to assist with a motorist that was swept off the road at Highway 75 and 280th Street in Sioux County.
“Sioux County requested our dive team to assist the Hull Fire Department with this rescue of the person due to the high floodwaters that were affecting Sioux County,” TeBrink said. “The motorist was successfully rescued.
“The Plymouth County Dive Team then proceeded to Rock Valley to assist with search and rescue of the residents affected by the high flood waters.Several other agencies also responded to Rock Valley with boats and rescue equipment to assist the residents,” he said. “Members of the Plymouth County Dive Team and Plymouth County deputies were responsible for safely rescuing 14 occupants from their flooded homes.”
After assisting Sioux County, the Plymouth County Dive Team and deputies returned to Plymouth County as reports were coming in of high water starting to cover the northern part of Plymouth County, specifically the Big Sioux and Floyd rivers.
At 11:19 a.m., the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office received a call from a residence located in the 36000 block of 120th Street north of Seney.
“Floodwaters from the Floyd River were surrounding their residence and three occupants needed to be rescued from their home,” the sheriff said. “All three occupants were safely rescued from their flooded home by dive team members and deputies with assistance from the Iowa State Patrol.”
At 5:57 p.m., 14 people were requesting assistance evacuating a residence in the 11000 block of 180th Street south of Akron due to high water surrounding the residence.
Responding agencies included the Akron Fire Department and Ambulance, the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office, the Plymouth County Dive Team, Plymouth County Conservation, and Iowa Division of Natural Resources. All 14 occupants, including two young children, were successfully rescued, TeBrink said.
Rescue operations continued on Sunday, June 23.
At 12:03 a.m., Merrill Fire Chief Jacob Conley requested assistance rescuing two people from a home on East Main Street, as well as two people trapped on a tractor. All four were safely rescued by the Plymouth County Dive Team with assistance from Plymouth County deputies and the Merrill Fire and Ambulance, TeBrink said.
He said all employees were notified that they could be potentially called in if they were needed. The Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office put in 57.5 hours of overtime, while dive team members, working in groups of five, worked 82.5 hours.
“Chief Deputy (Rick) Singer, Deputy (Pat) Heissel and myself oversaw all dive team operations along with assisting other communities and agencies within Plymouth County,” TeBrink said. “The most affected areas were the communities of Akron, Le Mars and Merrill and rural areas along the Big Sioux and Floyd Rivers.”
He said other flood-related duties consisted of welfare checks on homes and recommendations to evacuate along the flooded rivers, road closures, monitoring river levels and assisting Plymouth County Emergency Management Coordinator Rebecca Socknat.
“I also want to recognize the Plymouth County Communications Center and Plymouth County Jail for their work in fielding the incoming calls and keeping track of all the road closures that were being reported while still maintaining their regular duties,” the sheriff said.
TeBrink said he has never experienced flooding of this magnitude before.
“This is the worst flooding that I have been involved with in my 34 years at the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office,” he said.
The Plymouth County Search and Recovery Divers are a non-profit, volunteer group of dedicated individuals, according to a page on the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office website. It originally was under the direction of the Plymouth County Disaster Service agency before becoming a division of the sheriff’s office in 2006, providing an upgrade in equipment and training. Chief Deputy Rick Singer serves as the team coordinator.
“The Search and Recovery Dive Team servesALLof Plymouth County, not just a specific community or area,” the website states. “We are also available to assist neighboring counties and communities if necessary. We work closely with all the fire departments in the county to coordinate efforts for rescue or recovery of a victim.
“Our mission is to provide Plymouth County and its surrounding areas with professional surface ice and cold-water rescue as well as underwater rescue and recovery. This includes, but is not limited to, victims of surface ice and cold-water accidents, drowning victims, and evidence recovery for law enforcement.”
The dive team’s rescue work was a major part of a hectic weekend in Plymouth County as record flooding inundated northwest Iowa. Board of Supervisors Chair Don Kass issued an emergency declaration on Saturday, and kept officials and workers on the move. Kass said he was patrolling roads on Saturday when he realized the floodwater was going to get very high, and the county needed to act now.
Kass said he saw reports on social media and decided he better see for himself. He spotted a vehicle with its lights on stalled in highwater on Shamrock Avenue and called 911. The Remsen Fire Department had already rescued the people in the vehicle. Barricades were being put up to warn drivers off roads covered by rising water.
Kass said he then went to the county disaster service shed. He said sand was being delivered and people were stopping by to pick up sandbags. Kass drove to a store to pick up tying wire for the bags.
The emergency declaration said the flooding had caused “severe damage to public and private property, disruption of utility service, and endangerment of health and safety of the citizens of Plymouth County within the disaster area.”
A state of emergency, authorized by state law, was declared, which allowed the county to “execute the expenditure of emergency funds from all available sources, the invoking of mutual aid agreements and applying to the state for assistance.”
On Sunday, Kass checked on conditions around Hinton and Merrill. County road crews were kept busy as well. Plymouth County Engineer Tom Rohe was hoping to get through June without the need for a disaster declaration.
No such luck, he realized on Saturday.
During the Tuesday, June 25, Board of Supervisors meeting, Kass discussed what he witnessed. He said he came to Le Mars and worked with Socknat and TeBrink to try to deal with the flooding. All the while, the water kept rising higher.
“It was an interesting day Saturday, was it not, Jeff and Rebecca?” Kass said.
In the wake of the flooding, Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a disaster proclamation on Sunday for 20 counties, including Plymouth County. On Monday, Reynolds said President Joe Biden has approved a request for a Major Disaster Declaration for Plymouth, Sioux, Lyon, Clay and Emmet counties.
They can seek aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Small Business Administration assistance.
Kass said he was in contact with Gov. Reynolds, who was very supportive.
“She said, ‘If you need anything, just ask. Nothing is too big or too small,’” Kass said.
He noted other counties and communities had even worse flooding.
“We fared a lot better here in Plymouth County than a lot of our neighbors,” Kass said.
