Volunteers Needed For Flood Clean-up Weekends

The US Army Corps of Engi­neers is reduc­ing the water release lev­els from the Oahe Dam and the clean up effort for the 2011 flood­ing dis­as­ter in Pierre, South Dakota has begun. The cities of Pierre and Fort Pierre are seek­ing flood clean-up vol­un­teers for the week­ends of Aug. 27–28 and Sept. 3–5.

Any­one wish­ing to vol­un­teer should call the Flood Recov­ery Hot­line at 605–224-1189. Home­own­ers in need of assis­tance should call the same num­ber so they can be matched with vol­un­teer resources.

The main empha­sis of the cleanup efforts will focus on sand­bag removal. Coor­di­na­tors will match vol­un­teers with the more than 90 home­own­ers who have requested assis­tance. Vol­un­teers should bring gloves, shov­els, rakes, wheel bar­rows and any other items which would be help­ful with debris cleanup. They will be asked to attend a short ori­en­ta­tion the morn­ings of the events and will be pro­vided with basic clean­ing sup­plies, masks and other tools. Vol­un­teers are also encour­aged to check their med­ical records prior to the cleanup days to be sure they are up-to-date on immu­niza­tions and tetanus shots.

Please vol­un­teer just a lit­tle of your time and energy to boost this recov­ery effort because the worst is over and you can help the com­mu­ni­ties of Pierre and Fort Pierre to get back to life.

Any­one wish­ing to vol­un­teer should call the Flood Recov­ery Hot­line at 605–224-1189

(photo credit: South Dakota Mag­a­zine Edi­tor Bernie Hunhoff)