Outside Resources Come to the Aid of Flooded Olin
When flood waters rushed into Olin in June, the community knew they would need help. Over 100 homes were affected with either flood water, water in their basement or sewer back up. Twenty-one homes had water on their first floor and will not be occupied going forward. One home’s foundation gave way. The flood has temporarily displaced approximately 59 people. As sewage flowed into the streets, the city needed assistance to pump out the sewer lines and save homes and businesses in the community from major damage. The city owns only one pump so they quickly contacted the Jones County Emergency Management Coordinator and Borst Brothers Construction for additional pumps which arrived within 2-3 days. These pumps brought needed relief to the overflowing sewers. Because of the health risks from contaminated water, Olin asked Community Health of Jones County to provide tetanus shots in the community. Free shots were provided to many residents. Neighboring communities reached out to Olin and donated much needed cleaning supplies. Many joined in the sandbagging efforts, clean-up, and even directed traffic when roads were closed. A group of 26 students and leaders from Ohio are spending a week assisting with clean up which has been a great help to residents impacted by the flooding. Another group of 15 will be coming from the city of Maquoketa in a neighboring county to provide more assistance. A group of community members, mostly from the churches in town, have been providing supper meals for 12 days and will continue to do so for many more days. This has been a great partnership between churches and provided much needed sustenance for the volunteers.