FEMA Says Iowa’s Lake Delhi not Eligible for Disaster Aid

The Federal Emergency Management Agency says Lake Delhi is not eligible for public assistance to rebuild a dam that failed in July.

The agency says federal money also shouldn’t have been spent on repairs after the 2008 floods.

FEMA spokesman Bob Josephson says the agency has determined the Lake Delhi Recreation Association, which owns the dam, doesn’t provide any essential governmental service to the public, and the lake is strictly recreational.

FEMA says a group formed to levy taxes to maintain the dam doesn’t meet the definition of a government and wasn’t formed for a public purpose.

Gov. Chet Culver criticized the decision, saying FEMA changed the rules and regulations in the “middle of a great hardship.”

Bob Willey of the Lake Delhi association says his group will appeal.