The Region 3 Incident Management Team that has been housed at Coastal Community Action Program offices in Aberdeen worked with members of the Aberdeen and Hoquiam Fire Departments on Wednesday to respond to homes that were damaged by flooding and access each residents’ current situation.
Firefighters and IMT members went door-to-door responding to the approximately 300 inquires of flood-related issues that have been called into CCAP’s offices and took notes on what each residence needed, whether that was new insulation or mud removal.
The purpose of the assessments was to compile data and find out what work needed to be done on damaged houses and how those fixes could be completed. IMT Deputy Incident Commander Leonard Johnson said that after seeing the damage in Aberdeen and Hoquiam, volunteer groups could be contacted to help with repairs and cleanup.
“If we get to these work orders, we can figure out exactly what’s going on,” said Johnson. “There are much larger groups of volunteers outside of this community that are waiting for this information to come to them so they can help.”
IMT member Paul Counts stressed the fact that having a strong knowledge of damages allows volunteers to know what they need to do and how they can accomplish those tasks without wasting time.
“(The volunteers) only have so much time; they’ll come if they know what the work is. They aren’t just going to stand around and burn off that time they took off of work,” said Counts.
Another reason crews went door to door was to help the elderly or disabled. For those who weren’t able to get into crawl spaces or to different levels of the house to check for damage, this was an opportunity for them to be assisted.
Damages and requests for help were varied, with some houses needing more work than others.
Bridgett Ewings called CCAP due to black mold that had began to grow in her basement after she had two feet of standing water during the flood. She told firefighters that she has started to developed respiratory problems as a result.
“I’ve been coughing up my lungs,” she said.
Ewings also asked for help moving items out of the basement that were lost as a result of water damage.
She can’t physically move the items herself and said that her husband is disabled, making it impossible for either of them to clear the area.
A freezer full of food was also lost, Ewings said. She was referred to a storm recovery resource guide that listed different local agencies that could help with providing food, clothing and household goods.
Ewing’s information was taken by Aberdeen firefighters J.R. Streifel and Steve Pratt and will be put into a database for local city and county officials to refer to.
At Monique Preston’s house, Streifel and Pratt were told that the driveway needed to bleached. The sewer backed up during the storm and flooded Preston’s driveway.
Preston said she had about three feet of water in her driveway at the height of the storm, which she referred to as her “own outdoor swimming pool.” Water in her driveway went into a freezer full of food in her garage and she said she lost a good many personal items.
“It looks cleaned up out here, but a lot of my stuff got ruined,” she said.
Anyone who needs flood assistance of any kind or questions about emergency relief should contact the Coastal Community Action Program at (360) 533-5100.
Renters and homeowners can report damages to Grays Harbor County Emergency Management at this link: http://ift.tt/1xZGupA
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