TEKAMAH, Neb. (WOWT) — Over the last 6-months, three rounds of flooding continues to impact crop harvest in Iowa. The big hit is a financial burden that will impact next year’s planting.
Quentin Connealy is a fifth-generation farmer. Some of his Tekamah field is underwater for the third time this year.
“There are retail businesses in town, people who can’t get to houses, it’s not just farming, there are a lot of aspects of life this flood takes part of or hurts,” said Connealy.
Connealy said that 25 percent of his crop is submerged, this weekend’s rain raised the water table, and that means it will take longer to drain.
Luckily, Connealy has help. Scott Olson patrols the sky and takes video for those impacted down below.
Olson has 500 acres underwater.
“I’ve done a lot of that for the open knowledge with what is going on without river, why this is going on, and why this continues to happen,” said Olson.
The loss of farmland is a tough pill to swallow but Connealy makes the best of it. You can find him and his son paddle boarding across his fields, or even wakeboarding.
Now all they can do is wait.
“It could be a matter of days, but right now it looks like a matter of weeks,” said Connealy.
After the floodwater goes down, you have to think about what it leaves behind—debris, sand, and a loss of nutrients. That’s a lot of extra work for farmers.
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