Vernonia Flood Experience

Last weekend, Lauri and I had the pleasure of driving out to Vernonia Oregon to help the residents recover from a flood. Three weeks prior, several inches of rain had caused the water table in that area to rise to around 8 feet. Lower floors of people's houses had been flooded.

Our church led a team of around 60 people to help with the cleanup. I was impressed by how organized the recovery effort was being handled. FEMA was there and directing the efforts. Given the criticisms of the agency's handling of Hurricane Katrina, I was ready for some real bureaucratic slowness. The opposite was more true. Volunteers were driving in and the volunteer department had a great grasp on what needed to be done, who was where, and how the next volunteer could do the most good.

My crew was assigned to pick up debris from the streets. Residents whose house had flooded had been working for the last couple of weeks on cutting out wet sheet rock, insulation and anything else that was damaged. These materials were stacked on the curb. Our job was to take these six foot piles, load them into the back of a big ol' truck and then take the load to the drop zone. A few others and I brought our pickup trucks and those were designated for overflow and other materials. On one block other materials meant gasoline, propane, paint thinner and fertilizer that was all loaded into my bed and driven to the drop zone. That was a fun trip and I can only imagine the chemistry that must have been going on back there.

Overall the residents were really happy to see us. They were obviously tired from three weeks of demolition work, but they were helping us to know which projects still needed to be done. They were thankful and participatory which made the whole day run even more smooth.

Below is a picture of my truck bed. The picture really doesn't do it justice; the cab was a sheet of mud and there was mud in every corner of the outside. All in all though it was great to help our neighbors to the west recover from a devistating flood. If you would like to help, contact the volunteer department at (503) 791-9629 or go to the City of Vernonia website.