NEW HARTFORD, IOWA — A small sign taped to the glass front door of the town's hardware store still pleads for donations to the victims of the tornado.
Less than four weeks ago, a funnel cut down the northern edge of this farming town of nearly 650 people. The wind flung tractors more than a mile, crumbled Civil War tombstones and killed two people.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday, June 21, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 57 words Type of Material: Correction
Iowa floods: An article in Friday's Section A about residents leaving for good after the flooding said that the Ambrose family was moving to Cedar Falls, Iowa, about 11 miles east of New Hartford and miles from a waterway. Their new neighborhood is miles from a waterway, but the town itself is located along the Cedar River.
Then, before the white roses had wilted in their cemetery urns, the rest of the town was destroyed -- by a flood.
When Beaver Creek swelled June 8, the tributary of the Cedar River swallowed dirt levees and miles of rolling cornfields. Wave after black, roiling wave rushed through the town's maple-lined streets. Even panicked staff from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, in town because of the tornado, had to be evacuated.
When the water finally receded last week, it looked like someone had drenched this eastern Iowa town with the contents of a sewage truck. Faced with overwhelming loss and the fear that such devastation will happen again, a question is being asked in tiny towns across the flooded Midwest: Do you fight or flee?
Of Iowa's 949 towns, about 71% have populations of less than 1,000. Most of these communities were settled near waterways, where the soil was rich and there was easy means of transporting crops and goods downstream.
State emergency officials are still trying to determine how many of these tiny towns have been damaged by the floods. But given that 83 of the state's 99 counties were declared disaster areas by Gov. Chet Culver, and 31 towns and rural areas evacuated residents in recent days, officials said Thursday that the number could be significant.
As the waters have receded, the stories of woe along the state's waterways have been painfully similar. Palo, home to about 1,000 people, flooded. So did Oakville (population 439) and Fredonia (fewer than 200). Even now, as the waters rise and overpower towns along the Mississippi River, the pain is spreading to places like Winfield, Mo. (723).
In New Hartford, some people have already made a decision.
The gas station won't return. Neither will the corner convenience store. There were no books left to reopen the library: On Thursday afternoon, all 6,000 silt-covered titles spilled across the sidewalk. The local diesel engine repair shop is still considering whether to reopen.
The post office may close. The combined elementary and junior high school might not be ready for classes to begin in mid-August.
