State officials converged on Austin over the weekend, with U.S. Rep. Tim Walz on Friday, U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman on Saturday and Gov. Tim Pawlenty on Sunday.

The three met with Mayor Tom Stiehm, city engineer Jon Erichson, Rep. Jeanne Poppe, Sen. Dan Sparks and others to discuss the 2008 flood, and what prevention has been implemented and what is planned for the future.

Officials commended Austin for remaining in the forefront of flood mitigation and being proactive since floods in 1978 and 2004 devastated the city.

Though the community is grateful for their visits and apparent concern for Austin’s situtation, we hope these officials follow through with their promises to secure both state and federal funding.

Austin’s half-cent sales tax will offset some expenses — flood mitigation is very expensive — and the city has made this their No. 1 priority.

A collapsed culvert in Oakland Township that took the life of one flood victim will likely not receive Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funding because it doesn’t qualify, and Freeborn County will be hit with an unexpected $200,000 to fix the ongoing problem. It may take some time for FEMA to assess damaged areas in Austin.

Federal and state funding will help accelerate mitigation.