Iowa RI districts 5970 and 6000 established funds to help relief and recovery efforts for thousands of flood victims. Funds have been established to assist Iowa residents who have been battered by this month's record-setting floods, which have caused billions of dollars in damage and forced the evacuation of nearly 40,000 Iowans from their homes.

"The flooding, it's been devastating," said Dan Baldwin, president-elect of the Rotary Club of Cedar Rapids and president of the Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation. "This has actually gone outside the 500-year flood plain. A hospital 10 blocks from the river had to be evacuated. The entire downtown was underwater, some areas with 9 [to] 10 feet of water right in our central business district. Our community has never faced anything of this magnitude in terms of an emergency and rebuilding effort."

Floods have also ravaged other parts of the Midwest, including Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. The disaster has disrupted rail service in the Midwest and forced portions of interstate highways in several states to close, according to news reports.

The floods in Iowa coincided with a tornado that killed four Boy Scouts at an Iowa camp and just weeks after another tornado killed six people and nearly leveled much of the community of Parkersburg.

"Rotarians in Iowa responded in a magnificent way to the E5 tornado in Parkersburg, where 288 homes were destroyed," said Ken Kolek, a past governor of District 5970 and its current Rotary Foundation committee chair. "Now we turn around and are faced with 1,300 city blocks flooded, between 3,000 and 4,000 residences either partially or totally destroyed, close to 1,000 businesses destroyed."

The donor advised fund being set up by District 5970, covers the northern part of Iowa, including Cedar Rapids, Kolek said. He said he's been inundated with "incredible offers of help from all over the world."

District 6000, which serves southern Iowa including Iowa City and Des Moines, is earmarking an account for flood relief within its Humanitarian and Educational Foundation Inc., established after devastating floods hit the region in 1993. District Governor Diana Reed is encouraging Rotarians who want to volunteer to help out with immediate relief efforts to go through channels in their communities, such as the Red Cross and Salvation Army. She asks that those who want to help with future Rotary projects in the recovery process contact the district office, where they will be put in touch with the appropriate point person.

"Iowans are resilient," she said. "We'll come back."

For information about volunteer needs for recovery efforts, e-mail District 6000 administrator Caroline Scharff or call 877-976-8279.