U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar is now one of many legislators to tour flood-affected areas of Austin after a visit Saturday afternoon with city officials.

The senator praised the city for its flood mitigation, and said she will be one of many legislators debating next week in Congress for $2 billion in supplemental funding.

“Sometimes in government it’s hard to see the fruits of your labor,” she said as city engineer Jon Erichson and Mayor Tom Stiehm escorted her on a bus tour of North Main Street. “I just think there’s going to be so much more discussion about flood mitigation nationally now.

“When the dust has settled and floods receded, we can look long-term,” she said.

Erichson showed Klobuchar where a 5-foot earthen berm will be constructed along Austin Packaging Company’s parking lot leading up to a structural wall.

“All we are doing is trying to speed it up a little bit,” Stiehm said when explaining how the city is seeking a matching $5 million for their mitigation project. “We absolutely had damage to some of our areas, but not in the scale of Iowa.”

“We feel we don’t have 10 years to wait on this project,” Erichson said, referring to the city’s plans to accelerate their project schedule.

They also drove by the Wildwood Park residential neighborhood, where 15 of 17 homes have been acquired in a flood buyout project.

“This is a great example of how you can prevent this damage,” Klobuchar said.

At the intersection of Oakland Avenue and Fourth Street Southeast, Stiehm and Erichson pointed out two business who did not accept the city buyouts: Hardy Geranium and Stuttgart Travel & Tan — badly damaged during this year’s flood.

“The people who won’t take the buyouts, what can you tell them?” Stiehm said. “You know they’re going to get flooded again.”

“Everyone refuses them for different reasons,” Erichson added.

Klobuchar told officials she has four points she is focusing on in flood issues, including declaring disaster areas, obtaining Federal Emergency Management Agency funding, small business loans and agriculture relief.

Pointing out that about 10 percent of the nation’s corn crop will be lost due to floods, Klobuchar said she believes farmers may “potentially qualify for permanent disaster relief;” however, at this time she does not have dollar amounts.

“Anything we can make sure our farmers have the assurance they need,” she said.

Following Klobuchar’s Austin visit, she headed to Glenville, where she toured the Steve Kraushaar’s farm at 89609 160th Street, as well as County Road 34 in Oakland Township, where rural Albert Lea resident Dale Wangen was killed when his car hit an embankment during the flood.

Other legislators toured Austin last week, including Congressman Tim Walz on June 13, U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, June 14 and Gov. Tim Pawlenty, June 15.