In Freeborn County, heavy rains on June 11 devastated infrastructure, causing $672,500 worth of damage and possible more once a new estimate is made, according to Freeborn County Administrator John Kluever.

President Bush Wednesday declared Freeborn County one of the four counties in Minnesota labeled major disaster areas. The declaration could free up federal funds to help the counties rebuild after recent floods.

“I think it’s an appropriate response, and I’m pleased that that phase of the process was done and we can move forward from there,” Kluever said. “I’m happy to see that it was signed and declared and now we can continue to follow the process.”

Heavy rains the evening of June 11 caused flooding in the eastern and southeastern part of Freeborn County. Many farms in the area saw crops washed out of the earth. Township roads were washed out and had to be regraveled, culverts were filled with debris, and ditches were filled with excess water.

In addition, the heavy rains caused a section of County Road 34 to wash out killing one man and creating a 30-foot wide gap in the road. Part of County Road 34 is and will remain closed for a while, until the culvert and road can be rebuilt. High water crossed many roads in that area of the county, and when the water receded the erosion could be seen on the roads.

Fillmore, Houston and Mower counties were also labeled part of the presidential declaration’s major disaster area. All four counties sustained $8.3 million in damage causing Sens. Norm Coleman and Amy Klobuchar, along with Rep. Tim Walz, to send a letter of support to the president following an official submission for assistance by Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

The four counties are now eligible for aid through FEMA’s Public Assistance Program.

The next step for Freeborn County, according to Director of Freeborn County Emergency Management Mark Roche, is to meet with representatives of FEMA so appropriate papers can be filed. That meeting is tentatively scheduled for July 8, Roche said.

“These funds will help us offset expenses and projects that may have to be canceled because of these additional expenses,” he said.

The damage estimate includes havoc done to county, township and Turtle Creek Watershed infrastructure. The county administrator said that total could go up because the damage done to county ditch systems was not known last week. A more current total was unavailable.

Within the county, eight townships were affected: Shell Rock, Oakland, London, Hayward, Freeman, Riceland, Moscow and Nunda.

Roche said a lot of work has already been done to repair damages throughout the county. Now that work has started, he said, more exact costs are known, but he didn’t have those numbers.

Once FEMA representatives look over the damages, they will decide how much money the county is eligible for.

“It will allow us to repair this without major burdens onto the taxpayers,” Roche said.

If federal money is not available, he said, those repairs would still have to happen. That would cause other scheduled projects to be delayed. Townships in particular don’t have much money in their road and bridge maintenance funds, so they would have to ask for taxes from the residents.

And some of those residents are dealing with damages of their own. Klobuchar, on her visit to Freeborn County Saturday, said this month’s flooding has caused a 10 percent reduction in corn crop yield nationally.

Now that the president declared the area one of major disaster, “we’re able to get some help with these damages that we had and try to get them back to normal,” Roche said.

Specific dollar amounts for federal aid will come, he said, after FEMA has met with and visited all four Minnesota counties affected by the floods. That information should come within a week of the first meeting July 8, according to Roche.

More damage was done to public infrastructure than private homes and land, Roche said. There haven’t been many major damages to private homes reported to the county. Freeborn County commissioners passed an emergency resolution June 17, urging the president to declare the area a major disaster.