CEDAR RAPIDS- Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said the federal government needs to be a "strong, swift and effective partner" to help Iowa recover from the devastating floods as he heard from victims and state officials today who complained about inequities and slowness in the recovery system.

Obama, who was making his first visit to the state since late May, met with flood victims in hollowed-out Czech Village on this city's southwest side, then was to head to Coe College for a town hall meeting centered on the economy.

Damage estimates from the flood here are at $1 billion, but Congress has delayed consideration of a measure to provide flood relief to the Midwest.

"We have tens of thousands of people who are hurting," said Iowa Gov. Chet Culver, who was one of seven people who met with Obama at the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library this morning.

The museum, in the middle of Czech Village, was mostly underwater during the flood, and Obama and the flood victims talked underneath a chandelier that was nearly swamped with floodwaters last month. The museum's inner walls have been stripped to the studs.

Obama had been scheduled to visit here when the floods struck but called the trip off as the city struggled with the disaster.

Mostly today, Obama listened to flood victims and didn't voice an opinion on the government's response to the flood in the approximately 30 minutes that reporters were allowed to listen in. He did, however, express optimism the city would recover.

"This city is going to be rebuilt, and it's going to be better than ever," he said.

In the meantime, participants in the roundtable said there were problems in the recovery effort.

Scott Jamieson, chief executive of Horizons, a nonprofit, said it had no debt before the flood, but the consequences of that are the federal government is only offering it loans to recover, while other agencies whose books were "a mess" are getting access to grants.

Paul Morris, who with his wife runs a coffee shop downtown, said they, too, were being offered loans to rebuild while others who were being offered grants.

"We already have loans on the business (that we took out) to start it," he said.

Later, Obama entered a packed fieldhouse on the Coe College Campus to loud applause from a large crowd that gathered to hear him. He was expected to focus his remarks on the economy.

Ed Tibbetts can be contacted at (563) 383-2327 or etibbetts@qctimes.com.