The future holds many questions for folks still trying to recover from this year's flooding.
For farmers in many local drainage districts, that question may be whether they'll lose another crop to the flood in the upcoming year.
Efforts to rebuild the levee in the Indian Graves Drainage District is grinding to a halt, which could put the district's protection at risk.
But the toughest road may be ahead.
Farmers could lose the 2009 crop before they even begin planting. Many farmers face unplantable fields like these, which look more like a desert from levee sand rather than Illinois farmland.
Flood water still covers some areas. If that weren't enough the winter weather has halted the dredging needed to repair the levee breaks. District officials say they won't hold their breath for the January 15 deadline. That combined with no work being done on the district's pumping plant...is putting a big question mark on the upcoming year as homes and land go unprotected from the river. Duke Lyter is a Drainage District commissioner.
How frustrating is this? It seems to be the way our government works. You can't get a sense of urgency. Too much paperwork, too much red tape. It's frustrating, it's maddening.
Home and land owners in the Indian Graves Drainage District met Thursday to talk about the status of the recovery process during the District's annual meeting. And the news wasn't good.
Lyter said, "We're way in debt right now and we haven't gotten a dime from FEMA yet.
Right now Indian Graves is hundreds of thousands of dollars in the red from costs incurred during the flood fight. Those costs range from sandbags, to fuel to run drainage pumps. FEMA owes the District around two point five million dollars. But the check still hasn't arrived after months of waiting.
So with a disasterous year behind them and an uncertain one ahead...you could say these home and landowners have been left out in the cold in more ways than one.
We've left messages for FEMA officials to find out what the hold up is in providing the fund for the drainage district.
They haven't called back...but we'll let you what they say when they do.
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forKHQA