We're from the government, and we're here to help. That was the message some Illinois Agriculture leaders delivered to people suffering from recent devastating floods in Iroquois County Monday.

Illinois Director of Agriculture Philip Nelson led a delegation to Iroquois County to check out flood damage. He says 2015 is the wettest year he has seen in the fields.
"Make sure you keep good records," advised Nelson.

"Especially, going into harvest, what a particular field yields or doesn't yield. That'll start the process with the Farm Service Agency."

Home, business, and community damage is under the jurisdiction of the USDA Rural Development office, whose Illinois director, Colleen Callahan, found it hit close to home – as she is from Milford.

"I felt like I was standing in my own back yard," she said.

Nelson stresses this is almost a statewide crisis, with up to 30 percent of the crops threatened.

94.1 WGFA