Chehalis Flood Cleanup

A few weeks ago we had some very heavy rainstorms that lasted for days. It is common to have a long string of rainy days in the northwest, but it's usually just a trickle or short lived.
After so much heavy rain, something finally gave and the Chehalis/Centralia WA area (just 70 miles south of us) experienced massive flooding. The result was similar to what we all saw happen with Katrina, but on a much smaller scale. Still, for those affected, it was a disaster.

Homes and businesses were flooded with anywhere from 1 to 10 feet of water. Those on higher ground were not affected. A stretch of I-5 is at a low point in that area and was completely shutdown for nearly a week.Homes and businesses were flooded with anywhere from 1 to 10 feet of water. Those on higher ground were not affected. A stretch of I-5 is at a low point in that area and was completely shutdown for nearly a week.

Here are some links of some pictures to give you and idea:

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/MapsData/Aerial/SlideShow_ChehalisFlood.htm

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wsdot/sets/72157603369710783/?page=2

One of the photos that shows the area we were. I helped with the two houses outlined in yellow.

Auburn was hardly affected by any of this and we continued on with our lives as if nothing happened. Then one day we got word that the church needed a bunch of volunteers to go down and help with the cleanup. I wasn't aware of how bad things were for some people down there and wasn't sure what to expect, but I felt like I needed to go down and help.

Our ward went down as a group so that we could work together. When we got to the stake center in Chehalis, all we saw was a bunch of people with these funny yellow shirts and white buckets. I had never help with something like this before, but I soon learned that the yellow "Mormon Helping Hands" shirts and white cleanup up buckets are supplied by the church for disaster cleanup.

Our group was given an address to go help at. It included the owners name and number and a bit about their situation. It turned out that this was an older man who lived near the freeway and had his house flooded with 5-6 feet of water. The flood had come on pretty quickly and he ended up waiting it out in the second floor of his house for about 30 hours until someone came to help him.

We first started cleaning out his shed, which was completely flooded. The inside of it looked like a tornado had passed through with even the heaviest objects tipped upside down. It's amazing what water can do.

Apparently he understood the importance of food storage because he had a fridge and a large freezer in his shed with lots of meet, frozen veggies, etc. Too bad the flood wiped it all out. The stench was THICK -- hence the respiratory masks.

The house was still salvageable, but everything on the first floor that was flooded had to be thrown out including furniture, counter tops, cabinets, carpet, tiling -- everything. We basically became a demolition crew and helped him gut the bottom floor. While you felt really bad for these people who lost so much, I have to admit that demolition work is a lot of fun. My favorite part was when I walked into his kitchen with a pick ax. The kitchen counter had just been prepped and made ready to bust out of there. It was good timing on my part to be the one person in the room with the biggest and most destructive weapon... I mean tool :)
Here's a pick of his house with a pile of garbage in front. All the streets affected by the floods were lined with huge piles of garbage waiting to be taken away.

Afterwards, we all went for pizza.

I was really glad to have had the opportunity to go down and help those in need. It was a very rewarding experience and now I have a sense of how the church organizes these efforts.

The following Monday the moms and kids got together and made some blankets for the children who lost their blankets in the flood. A second grade teacher down in the flooded area asked some of her students what they wanted for Christmas and all they wanted was a new blanket, because theirs was lost in the flood. The teacher was able to give those kids blankets, and they hugged them and buried their noses in them. Soon they found that some many kids in the area needed blankets, so the church was contacted and a Relief Society President asked several stakes in the area to donate blankets for "Operation Blankie". A friend of ours coordinated an after school activity where she invited many moms and kids over to cut and tie fleece blankets. It was a great experience for both the kids and the moms. In a little over 2 hours we tied 35 blankets.