(Radio Iowa) — One estimate says it could be 2021 before all of the flood-damaged roads in southwest Iowa are repaired. Fixing the roads is a major hurdle preventing displaced people from returning home. Baseline Road, J-34 south of Percival in Fremont County, is missing about a foot of shoulder. Assistant county engineer Robbie Kromminga explained what would happen if a truck were to drive off of it. “It’s just going to flip the truck and probably kill somebody.”

Just north of the town of Percival, 200th Street is full of holes that are full of water. “This is two weeks worth of work to just make it usable,” Kromminga says. “We’re literally going to have to start at the first hole, start filling that hole and just go hole to hole to hole as we fill the road as we go.” Outside of Bartlett, a bridge is missing and there’s a hole full of water that’s some 60 feet deep. “We’ve got to fill that hole before we can put a bridge in here,” he says.

Other roads are covered in mud while full slabs of concrete are cracked beyond repair, up-ended or completely missing. “Pretty much everything’s gone, the base is gone, all the rock is gone, shoulders are non-existent,” Kromminga says. “The ditch is full of the rock that’s supposed to be on the road. So, a lot of work here.” The county roads department says all repairs collectively could take several months or up to two years and could cost at least six-million dollars.

(Thanks to Katie Peikes, Iowa Public Radio)