Van Buren agencies aid flood recovery

VAN BUREN, Mo. -- With the final Carter County residents accounted for following Sunday's flash flooding, recovery efforts are underway to help the numerous residents whose homes were damaged.

"What we're doing is brainstorming and strategizing," as well as scheduling volunteers and setting tasks, said Carter County Sheriff Rick Stephens from a command post set up at the First Baptist Church in Van Buren.

The American Red Cross, Stephens said, has teams going into the field to do assessments.

Members of the Carter County Community Organizations Active in Disasters, which is a community-based group of citizens, are helping the Carter County Emergency Management Agency in doing everything from getting donations to going door to door to see what needs are there, such as water and electricity, Stephens said.

Officials are trying to determine what services "we need to sustain versus what services the citizens can provide for themselves at this point," he said.

"We've got a bunch [of homes] that heat water with propane, and their tanks moved away, floated down the creek," county EMA director Justin Eudaley said. "We've got to help those folks where they can have warm water."

Those who weren't contacted Monday were the main focus Wednesday, along with finding places for the residents to take showers and cook, said Eudaley, who estimates about 50 to 70 homes were damaged by the floodwaters in Fremont, as well as on its outskirts.

"We're still in the process of getting [the damaged homes] narrowed down," Eudaley said.

The majority of the homes had anywhere from 6 to 12 inches of water in them.

"Approximately 10 homes look like they're a total loss," while the others had moderate damage, the sheriff said.

The county's road and bridge crews, Eudaley said, repaired many of the affected roads Monday.