In Fremont County alone, local farmers pulled together a quick estimate that the flood affected 28 local producers’ farmland. Of those who stored grain, only three were able to move theirs before the water came and ruined nearly 1.8 million bushels of corn and soybeans.

Much of the grain lost by these Iowa farmers is uninsured, and they estimate that they lost a total of 390,000 bushels of soy and 1.4 million bushels of corn — totaling about $7.3 million in damage to their farm operations. For context, American farmers yielded 14.42 billion bushels of corn and soybeans between September 2017 and August 2018, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

For some, the flooding could mean losing both their 2018 crops and their 2019 crops, because the lingering water stripped topsoil and left behind sand that could delay planting. Most farmers had planned to plant seed in fewer than four weeks.

Few can afford those kinds of losses in good years, but the waters have made an already grim situation increasingly dire. The flooding will affect farmers here for years.

“The reality is this isn’t going to be over for a very long time,” Jorgenson said. “It took years after 2011 for people to come back. For me as a farmer, there are flooded acres here that to think that I’ll be able to plant a crop in 45 days is just virtually impossible.”

Farmers forced to sue for flood protection

That water like this would arrive so suddenly came as no surprise to some farmers here. They’ve dealt with a growing number of floods on their land since 2004, when the Army Corps of Engineers amended its flood control practices on the Missouri River.

That led to a lawsuit in 2014 of 44 plaintiffs representing farms that extend across six states, from Bismarck, North Dakota, to Leavenworth, Kansas. They contended that the Corps had prioritized fisheries and recreation over flood control.

Bartlett Grain Company grain elevators are surrounded by floodwaters in Hamburg, Iowa. Whitney Curtis / Whitney Curtis/for NBC News

The landowners alleged that the Corps' changes to flood control had led the federal agency to intentionally use their farmland to dump excess water from the Missouri River’s levees and dams — which they said happened more than 100 times in the past 15 years. The lack of compensation for that use of their land violated their Fifth Amendment rights, they said.

The Corps maintained that while there was risk of increased flooding by the change to its priorities around the Missouri River, it did not directly intend to cause flooding on their land and should not be held liable.

Judge Nancy Firestone, who sits on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, ruled in favor of the farmers, and damages have yet to be set. She denied the government’s motion to reconsider last week.

Leo Ettleman, 64, one of the plaintiffs in southwest Iowa, said that the water now covering more than 90 percent of his 2,200 acres and his lost grain once again proves farmers’ concerns.

His eyes grew red talking about these latest losses and whether his 42-year-old son, a seventh-generation farmer, could afford to take over the family farm.

“I don’t think he wants to give up, but it’s going to be tough,” Ettleman said, wiping his eyes. “Young family and all that — we just don’t know.”

Seth Wright, a lawyer for the farmers, said that his firm is beginning an investigation of the current flooding to determine whether they will sue on behalf of those farmers affected by these floodwaters who aren’t part of the 2014 lawsuit.

“We’re ahead of the game and aren’t starting from scratch, but we still need to do our due diligence to make sure liability is there,” he told NBC News.

But Ettleman, Lueth and a handful of other local farmers, who gathered along a dirt road in a field where water lapped at the edges of the thoroughfare and reached toward the horizon, said they have had enough and will advocate for additional change.

They plan to make a lot of noise in Congress about their continued challenges because they feel they have no choice.

“We need Congress to change the law and we need to reel in the Corps of Engineers,” Lueth said, referring to legislation surrounding the Missouri River waters. “It’s a simple thing, but it still requires a vote. Urban people have a voice with the Green New Deal and things, but we’re losing our rural rights.”

A rural town tries to hold onto hope

Farmers aren’t the only ones who were openly hostile toward the Corps amid this week’s flooding.

Floodwaters overtook more than three-quarters of the town of Hamburg, Iowa, a small hamlet of 1,400 that dates back 150 years. The town had flooded in the past, but never past Hamburg’s middle intersection, where a flagpole stands.