(COUNCIL BLUFFS) — Regional Water Rural Water Association has implemented a BOIL WATER order for some regional water customers in northeast Pottawattamie County. Affected customers are also urged to conserve water at this time. A fire at Regional Water’s facility north of Avoca has disable their capability to pump water to some of their towers that supply areas of Pottawattamie, Shelby, and Harrison Counties.

Due to the loss of pumping capability there is a potential for interruption of service later this afternoon or this evening until pumping operations can be reestablished, according to estimates provided by Regional Water staff. The situation has also forced the issuance of a boil order for water used in consumption and food preparation. Doug Reed, Emergency Management Director for Pottawattamie County, said “Emergency Management officials in Shelby and Pottawattamie Counties are working closely together and communicating regularly with Regional Water in order to continually assess the situation and assist in providing public information or other assistance as may be needed.

Pott. County EMA

“Obviously the potential loss of water service to residents in this region is a concern; that concern is just amplified with the current drought conditions, forecast temperatures over the next 48 hours, and this being one of the largest holiday weekends of the year. We’ll monitor the situation closely and both county emergency management agencies are postured to provide whatever assistance may be required until pumping capability is restored.”

Impacted Regional Water customers can get more information by visiting Regional Water’s website and Facebook page. Residents of Pottawattamie County are also encouraged to register for Alert Iowa at https://pcema-ia.org in order to receive emergency notification for situations like this. The system has already been used for this event to notify over 500 area residents and businesses in the county of the potential impact.

Officials with the Regional Water Rural Water Association in Avoca report “Due to a fire at our main booster station, all customers with accounts beginning with A, C, CO, P, T, W, and K, as well as residents of Panama, Portsmouth, Earling, Minden to the extent those cities are using Regional Water, are on a BOIL WATER ADVISORY.

Regional Water customers West of Highway 59 and East of Neola, and some customers East of Highway 59 around Harlan and Kirkman, will soon be without water until they are able to get other pumping stations.

The Audubon School Board, Wednesday morning, approved their end of fiscal year expenditures, and an Elementary Classroom Project. Superintendent Eric Trager explains…

The Board he says also talked about personnel. As we’ve mentioned, Board member Joni Madsen has resigned to transition into High School English Teacher position within the District.

The appointment is for just a couple of months, until a Special Election in September. The other big news from the meeting concerns the addition of an Art Teacher. An individual was locked-in to the post a couple of weeks ago.

Eric Trager says they had a hard time getting someone for the position due to the state-wide teacher shortage that’s left many districts scrambling to get qualified candidates.

He says they’re curious whether the shortage of candidates is a matter of supply and demand, or what is driving the shortage issue. It’s something that needs to be addressed on a state-wide level going forward. In other business, Trager said a Special Election will be held in the District on Sept. 14^th, with two issues on the ballot. The first is a Revenue Purpose Statement (RPS).

He says “there is zero impact to our tax payers.” The second issue on the ballot is an election to fill a seat on the Board vacated by Joni Madsen. In other business, the Board received an update on the facilities project. Eric Trager said the have gone through and tried to eliminate inefficiencies without eliminating any parts of the project. After an extensive redesign/engineering process, the project will go out for bids in August, with the bid openings on Sept. 16^th.

He says they’re hopeful they’ll have a very competitive bid day and move forward from there.

A plane crash in southern Iowa Thursday morning has claimed the life of an Omaha businessman. According to KETV in Omaha, Dave Paladino died when a small plane crashed a little before 8-a.m., short of the Lamoni Municpal Airport.  The family’s pastor confirmed Paladino was on board the single-engine Cirrus SR-22 went it crashed near the south end of the runway. A second victim has not yet been identified.

Through FAA records, KETV NewsWatch 7 confirmed the plane was registered out of Valley, Nebraska with the tail number N123RE.  The FAA crash report says the aircraft attempted to land, but took off immediately and appeared to stall on departure, resulting in the crash.  Paladino leaves behind a wife and four children. He’s the founder of Dino’s Storage, Paladino Development Group, Landmark Group, and Grncompanies, which collectively employ more than 100 people.

The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash. Neither agency identifies people involved in aircraft accidents.

A two-vehicle accident took place east of Atlantic Friday morning. The crash occurred at around 10:37-a.m. on Highway 71 just south of Galveston Road, near the old State Patrol Headquarters. Atlantic Fire and Rescue and Cass EMS responded to the scene. Additional details are currently not available.

(Update 11:26-a.m.) A collision between two vehicles north of Massena this (Friday) morning, has left at least one person seriously injured, and one person deceased. The accident happened at around 10:21-a.m. on 750th/Highway 148, between Newport and Pella Roads. One vehicle was said to have been in a ditch. The road was closed while the accident remained under investigation. Anita Rescue and Cass EMS were dispatched to the scene.

Additional details are currently not available.