Flood Update (Fri Sept 27)

Last night I received a call asking if I could help clean up houses in Berthoud, a community about 40 minutes southwest of where we live. I said yes and she promised she could find someone to watch Ed, offering to watch him herself.

I ended up making my own arrangements for Ed and drove two other sisters in my ward. We met at the chapel there .. . . such a pretty little town. (My friend Helen's sister lives in Berthoud).

There were about 10 ladies who gathered to help clean two homes. One of the families cancelled, so we all went to one house. The lady in charge, we'll call her "Sister H" is the Relief Society President in the Berthoud Ward. She seemed a little worn out . . . admitted that herself when she asked someone else to say the prayer. She gave a brief introduction to our efforts.

Berthoud lies along the Little Thompson River. There are areas in Berthoud that are unaffected, but those close to the river had a lot of damage. (6 feet of water in the first home Nathan was asked to clean out). Sister H said that FEMA came through but did not stay to offer help in the clean up process. Members of the Berthoud ward went to the lowest lying areas to ask what help was needed. Essentially they told each of these families that if they would choose a day, our stake would supply extra help.

We followed her in our cars so that she could stay longer--because she knew we would probably have varying levels of time availability. She said we also needed to follow her to get to the home, because putting it into a GPS would take us over bridges that were closed. I was sure she was right about that little fact, especially when we went past a "Road Closed" sign.

The family whose home we went to this morning was expecting 3-4 people. But remember, one household cancelled, so all of us showed up. We were more than a little overwhelming. In about two hours, we mopped the main living areas of the home and cleaned everything that touched the floors with a bleach solution. The carpet had been removed earlier we were cleaning tile and cement. They had already mopped before--our purpose was to disinfect with bleach. You would not believe how quickly the mop bucket would be brown & cloudy. It was nice to work together and in a short time we got a lot of work done. It would not have been possible without as many helpers. Laundry was folded, toys were wiped down, dishes washed, and hope renewed.

There were three children there . . . close to the ages of some of my own. I wonder what they've thought & felt the past couple of weeks. They still had their smiles.

I took time to talk to the family. The owner said that his house is normally 17 to 17.5 feet above the river. He said it rose 18 feet & crested 4 times. The crests came when reservoirs were failing. One of the crests was a 2 and 1/2 foot rise that came and went in under an hour. He's owned that property for 30 years . . . so he wasn't there for the 1976 flooding. As we were leaving he was talking about lots of equipment he owned which was now gone.. . . and said, "It's all just stuff."
"The important things, the ones on two legs," he said, gesturing to his grandson nearby, "Are still here and walking, and that's all that matters."

I would have liked to stay a little longer, but we had to get back to get Ed. It was a great experience to be invited into their home to help them for a little while.

There are projects the next 3 weekends helping families in this same area. Saturday morning at 9 am.