As the community of Greenfield continues to recover from the EF-4 tornado that ripped through the town on May 21st, state and federal officials continue to see what they can do to help.

On June 11th Governor Kim Reynolds held a town hall meeting in Greenfield to see what areas were doing well, and which could use some help to get things moving along. A representative from the Adair County Hospital mentioned that they were looking at August 1st as a reopening date, though they would have more insight on when they would reopen sometime in early July.

The director for Greenfield Municipal Utilities was on hand, and mentioned that they were still working on street lighting, putting up temporary poles until permanent ones could be installed. He also touched on having some natural gas issues from time to time, and mentioned that a contractor had been hired to put in new gas lines in the area affected by the tornado.

Representatives of the Greenfield Fire Department were on hand, and told the governor that they were now up and running and able to field calls by themselves. They are currently operating from a pole barn that a farmer was kind enough to offer use of to have one location to operate from. This isn’t a permanent fix though, as the bay the trucks are in is not insulated, and as winter approaches an insulated space will be needed.

A major topic of discussion was delays from insurance across the board. Individuals, businesses, and government entities are able to receive help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), but must wait until they receive information from their insurance companies before they can move forward. Another important topic was housing, as there were over 200 homes damaged or destroyed by the tornado.

Adair and Guthrie County Emergency Management Coordinator Jeremy Cooper shared that the community is still implementing a 10pm curfew, and that it would last at least until the end of the week, and whether or not it was still needed would be a topic of discussion next week. Governor Reynolds did share that the state is working to include an EMA node with the new Thrive Iowa program that was approved by the legislature in the recent legislative session. This program will work to implement an online system that helps individuals, nonprofits and businesses all connect with each other.

Those in attendance included elected officials for the City of Greenfield, Adair County and the state of Iowa, representatives for Adair County Hospital, Greenfield Fire and police departments, the Greater Greenfield Community Foundation, FEMA, Governor Reynolds and Cooper.