“Once fertile land” is “now covered with sand, mud and unimaginably huge slabs of sludge and ice,” she said. About three fourths of her state is under federal disaster declaration.

In an interview, Hawley said he got an “earful” from farmers and others living along the Missouri River in the northwestern part of the state last week, who told him “how angry they were about how the Corps has managed the river — not just the last couple of weeks, but for years and years and years.

“Flood control is supposed to be the top priority, but it just isn’t,” he said.

In a statement issued after his meeting with Corps officials, Hawley complained that “the Corps is hamstrung on the one hand by radical environmentalist lobbyists that are forcing the agency to prioritize wildlife over farmers. This is made worse by the fact that Congress has failed to give the Corps a clear ranking of priorities or clear orders on how to achieve them.”

But, the Corps statement said that its “operations are governed by the Missouri River Master Manual, last updated in November 2018, developed in consultation with all Basin states, tribes and industry representatives.”