Local volunteers help with recovery from Midwest flooding

While Southeast Missouri suffered through drought conditions in late August, states in the northern Midwest were hit by torrents of rain that caused flooding and the loss of homes, businesses and lives in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ohio.

The American Red Cross of Southeast Missouri sent volunteers to help with the aftermath of the storms. Two Cape Girardeau County residents and a Stoddard County couple expect to return next week from their volunteer disaster deployment in Wisconsin.

Martha and Glen Harmon of Stoddard County went to Minneapolis and were sent to Gays Mills, Wis., to help victims of the flooding. They joined other Red Cross volunteers at a school halfway between Gays Mills and Soldiers Grove, Wis. -- two small towns in Crawford County about eight miles apart.

The Harmons left Southeast Missouri two weeks ago and have only had one day off from their 12-hour shifts helping people get monetary and material aid to start over.

"We worked a little bit extra because the clients needed extra help and the Red Cross is short on help," Martha Harmon said in a phone interview. The couple has not had cell phone service most of the trip to rural Wisconsin. They took their first day off in a week to do laundry.

"We had to go about 25 miles to find a laundromat," she said.

The Red Cross sent about 770 volunteers to help with the floods, said Jamie Koehler, emergency services director for the Southeast Missouri Chapter of the Red Cross.

Volunteers do a variety of things, Koehler said. They run shelters, cook, man bulk distribution sites where people can get cleanup kits and do damage assessment of neighborhoods.

"Most volunteers are in individual client services and sheltering," Koehler said.

The Harmons have been giving out credit cards to people who have lost items in the flooding. They also provide emotional support when needed.

Martha Harmon said she has sat with people for up to five hours. "They just want to talk to somebody."

As of Friday, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation reported several roads still closed because of the high water or debris on the roads. Damage reports from emergency management agencies for three affected counties -- Crawford, Richland and Vernon -- exceeded $20 million.

Gov. Jim Doyle had declared the three counties state disaster areas and more rains have added at least two other counties to the list.

Gays Mills and Soldiers Grove were two of the original heavily affected areas. More than 200 homes were reported damaged.

"It's just plain old everyday people like me that this happens to," Martha Harmon said.

She and her husband began volunteering two years ago after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast.

She said that although it is one of the most rewarding things the couple has ever done, it is also one of the hardest, physically and mentally.

"When you sit all day long and listen to stories of how their house is destroyed and they have to start over again, their problems kind of affect you after a while," she said. "It makes you realize how important what you have at home is."

The Southeast Missouri Chapter has a disaster database with close to 60 names, Koehler said. Most deployments last three weeks and service both local and national disasters.

charris@semissouiran.com

335-6611 extension 246

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