WAPELLO, Iowa — Wayne Gerst’s farm has been in his family for 62 years; now it’s under eight feet of water. The farm, in tiny Oakville, Iowa, is one of many places submerged in a town that’s still under water 1-1/2 weeks after its levee was overtopped. ‘The water’s going down slowly,’ says Mr. Gerst’s wife, Joleen, after doing a flyover of the region Tuesday. She shows photos taken last week by boat: Water is up to the garage roof, and roses – ‘my best year ever for flowers’ – peek out of the very top of the otherwise submerged arbor. The Gersts plan to return when the water recedes. Many of their neighbors don’t. What the future holds for the town of about 400 on the edge of the Iowa River is anyone’s guess. As swollen rivers burst over levees in the upper Midwest this month, many of the areas hardest hit are farm towns like Oakville. These hamlets now face particular challenges: the likelihood that some residents won’t move back to already-dwindling towns, farm-dependent economies that may be hurt by crop loss, and a lack of resources or experienced town officials to navigate the […]