WEST UNION -- Getting around the area may be as difficult after the floodwaters recede as it was while the roads were inundated.

Counties across Northeast Iowa are surveying damage from one of the worst flooding episodes to hit the state in a decade. In many cases, the end result means closing stretches of road for at least the summer and forking out millions of dollars for repairs.

"It's been a trying time for everyone," said John Riherd, Butler County Engineer.

In Fayette County, the Turkey River washed out a 435-foot bridge June 9 on Juniper Road between Ossian and West Union. County Engineer J.D. King said he saw parts of the bridge's rail and center spans being washed away before the collapse. Flooding also shut down about 8.5 miles of the Great River Road -- a main route between towns in northern Fayette County.

"Unfortunately that's the same route that is the bypass for this bridge on Juniper Road," King said.

It'll be at least a year before the bridge reopens.

King said workers also had to cut a hole through a road near Elgin after flooding threatened to breach a levee around the city. Floodwaters settled on the second and third rows of a sandbag wall above the berm. King said he wasn't sure if tearing up the road helped save the levee.

"It was not something that we generally do, tear up your own roads to make the water go across," he said.

Bill Ziegler, coordinator of Fayette County Emergency Management, said the water settled unofficially about 4 feet above the record flood stages in Elgin. At Eldorado, where the National Weather Service has a river gauge, the level was above 19 feet.

The flooding caused nearly $5 million worth of damage in the county and cities. The Juniper Road bridge alone could cost up to $2 million to replace.

The situation was similarly difficult in Butler County, where three bridges -- including one that spanned 120 feet -- washed out, and up to five more are closed because of pending inspections, Riherd said. Seven roads had at least one closure Thursday because of the damage from weather.

"It's a really significant impact," he added.

Riherd said it's been one thing after another since about December -- including frost boils, ice and snowstorms and a wet spring. Coming into this season, though, the roads were in pretty good shape.

Now Riherd is looking at spending millions to repair several roads. Some of the available money will come from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, he said. Thirty-nine counties qualify for public assistance dollars because of flooding or the tornado May 25. Butler County played host to both devastating events.

Dena Gray-Fisher, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Transportation, said counties also can take out emergency contracts to repair roads, if the county has enough money to pay for the work. The process allows the counties to bypass the regular processes of bid-letting.

In Black Hawk County, private contractors began work on Cedar-Wapsi Road under an emergency contract for $40,000. All paved roads are open again except for Cedar-Wapsi Road and Washburn Road west of Gilbertville, and several gravel roads are still under water.

Clayton County officials also issued an emergency contract, mostly to haul rock to repair shoulders and gravel roads, County Engineer Rafe Coopman said. The county is looking at up to $500,000 worth of damage, he added. Most of that was sustained along the Turkey River, but unlike nearby Fayette County, none of the bridges or roads were damaged severely.

To the south, in Buchanan County, the roads also were spared.

"We're holding pretty good," said Steve Bantz, road maintenance foreman in Buchanan County.

Water from the Wapsipinicon River and several streams poured out of its banks last week, but Bantz said most of the damage was limited to gravel roads.

Early indications suggested Buchanan County would be hit with 24 feet of water from the Wapsie, but the river ended up cresting at about 19 feet. Rick Wulfekuhle, the county's emergency management coordinator said the county "dodged a big bullet." But some parts of the county were still reeling from flooding in April and severe storms in May. The Lamont area saw flash flooding in connection with a system that produced tornadoes in four counties May 25.

"There's going to be a boatload of work left to do this summer," said Rick Wulfekuhle, coordinator of Buchanan County Emergency Management.

Contact Josh Nelson at (319) 291-1565 or josh.nelson@wcfcourier.com.