(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Red Oak Police Department reports officers dispatched to a residence in the 200 block of E. Elm Street, Monday, ended-up arresting a man on assault and other charges. Following a brief investigation, officers took 41-year-old Michael Duwayne Cobb, of Red Oak, into custody at around 5:30-p.m., on: 2 counts of Assault w/bodily injury; Going Armed with Intent (A Class-D Felony), and 4th Degree Criminal Mischief.

Cobb was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $5,000 bond.

(Spencer, Iowa) – Sheriff’s officials in northwest Iowa have identified a man who died Saturday, after his vehicle was swept away by flood waters. According to the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, William Schulze, of Elburn, Illinois, was driving a red Ford vehicle and attempting to cross rapid flood waters on 240th Avenue, when he was swept away in the flood waters from the Little Sioux River on Saturday. Witnesses told officers they saw a vehicle float under the waters.

Authorities said they knew where the vehicle was, but weren’t able to get to it safely until Monday.

DES MOINES – Gov. Kim Reynolds announced Mondayy that President Biden has approved Iowa’s request for a Major Disaster Declaration for Iowa counties where significant damage was sustained from severe storms, flooding, straight-line winds, and tornadoes that occurred beginning on June 16, 2024 and continuing.

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) are now authorized to provide assistance to Clay, Emmet, Lyon, Plymouth, and Sioux Counties. The Governor will continue to request additional counties as more information is collected.

Residents in these counties can now apply for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Individual Assistance Program, which provides disaster-affected homeowners, renters, and businesses with programs and services to maximize recovery, including assistance with housing, personal property replacement, medical expenses, and legal services.

Individuals and business owners who sustained losses in the designated areas can begin applying for assistance by calling 1-800-621-3362. The helpline operates from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., 7 days a week. Anyone using a relay service, such as video relay service (VRS), captioned telephone service or others, can give FEMA the number for that service. Other options include registering online at www.disasterassistance.gov or downloading the FEMA app.

Homeowners, renters, businesses, and nonprofit organizations whose property was damaged or destroyed by this disaster, may be able to apply for low-interest disaster loans from the SBA. In addition, small businesses, agricultural cooperatives, and private, nonprofit organizations impacted by the severe weather may be eligible to apply for working capital loans.

Applicants may apply online, receive additional disaster assistance information, and download applications at www.sba.gov/funding-programs/disaster-assistance.

Applicants may also call SBA’s Customer Service Center at 1-800-659-2955 or email disastercustomerservice@sba.gov for more information on SBA disaster assistance. For people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.

The Iowa Individual Assistance Grant Program is no longer available in counties where the FEMA Individual Assistance Program has been made available and residents should apply for the FEMA Individual Assistance Program.

In addition, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Public Assistance Program has been activated for Buena Vista, Clay, Dickinson, Emmet, Lyon, O’Brien, Osceola, Plymouth, and Sioux Counties. The Public Assistance Program provides funding for emergency work, such as debris removal and emergency protective measures.

ATLANTIC, IOWA – June 25, 2024 – If you travel on Interstate 29 or I-680 north of Council Bluffs, the Iowa Department of Transportation’s District 4 Office wants you to know that it intends to close I-29 from milepost 55 (25th Street at the north edge of Council Bluffs) to the I-29/880 interchange (near Loveland) at approximately 11 a.m. on Tuesday, June 25. Timing will depend on rising flood water levels on the Missouri River.

In addition, the portion of I-680 west of I-29 located in Iowa will also be closed at approximately 11 a.m. due to rising flood waters.

Once the roadway is closed you will follow a signed detour that will start at the I-29/880 interchange near Loveland, continue east to the I-80/880 interchange, and then southwest on I-80 to Council Bluffs. If you are driving between Iowa and Nebraska, you should use I-80. Local traffic in the Omaha/Council Bluffs area should follow the signed detour.

The Iowa DOT reminds travelers to never enter a water-covered roadway. Do not move or travel around barricades or fencing as they are placed there for your safety. Turn around and don’t drown.

(UPDATED by Radio Iowa) – Authorities say the suspect in a southwest Iowa bank robbery died by suicide in a farm field. According to an Iowa Department of Public Safety news release, a man walked into the Iowa State Savings Bank in Lenox at about 1:30 Monday afternoon and demanded money. He left on a motorcycle, was chased into the neighboring county, crashed into a farm field and started running. Officers from four county sheriff’s departments and the Iowa State Patrol surrounded the field.

The Creston News Advertiser reports authorities used a drone to speak to the man, who responded that he would take his own life. The state agency’s news release indicates the suspect fired one shot and died of a self-inflicted wound. The Creston newspaper has identified the man as 45 year old Steven Sapp, a man from Nebraska with a criminal record.

Several media reports from more than a decade ago show Sapp did time in a Missouri prison after pleading guilty to stabbing a man to death with a pocket knife in southern Missouri in 2008. In 2013, Sapp was convicted of robbing a Pizza Hut in southwest Nebraska and beating two female employees at the restaurant. He was released from a Nebraska prison in 2022 after serving nine years on a 21 year sentence.