Toledo Mayor Brian Sokol (right) addresses residents at a joint community meeting on August 12. Also pictured are Tama mayor Doug Ray (far left) and Tama County Emergency Management Coordinator Mindy Benson (center). Another community meeting is scheduled for Thursday at 6 p.m. at the aquatic center on Church Street in Toledo.

Questions have been raised locally regarding the potential for outside assistance from organizations like the Red Cross and the Iowa National Guard.

Both the cities of Tama and Toledo have made requests to Tama County Emergency Management but it appears any potential assistance from those organizations may at best, be delayed.

“The City of Toledo has requested multiple times for assistance to be sought from the Red Cross and the Iowa National Guard,” Brian Sokol, Toledo Mayor said Thursday morning.

Sokol believes those organizations may be able to assist with door-to-door welfare and property checks, bottled water distribution, and the facilitation of cooling shelters in both communities.

In Toledo, a small city crew started work Thursday on door-to-door welfare checks and damage assessments.

In response, Tama County Emergency Management Coordinator Mindy Benson indicated Thursday that she is working with the Red Cross to bring assistance to Tama and Toledo but that challenges in navigating through the organization’s COVID-19 protocols was delaying a response. The point of contact with the Red Cross that Benson is reportedly working with is located over 150 miles away in Nebraska.

As for the Iowa National Guard, Benson says they have not been made available due to the lack of a federal component within the aftermath of the Central Iowa derecho.

City and county leadership as well as a representative from Alliant Energy are scheduled to speak at a community meeting Thursday evening at the Tama-Toledo Family Aquatic Center parking lot. The aquatic center is located at 1306 S Church St. in Toledo. The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. and a recording of the meeting will be posted to the News Chronicle Facebook page shortly after the conclusion.