Rumbling over damaged roads, past decimated homes and over rural Lewis County hills, a tour bus visited some of the hardest hit areas of the early December floods yesterday.
The passengers were members of the United Way of Lewis Countys board of directors. The trip was aimed at providing the board members with a view of the flood zone, where livelihoods are still being pieced back together more than three months after the devastating event.
Youre going to think it should be farther along than it is, said president of the board Richard DeBolt, who is also a state legislator, before embarking on the six-hour tour. If you knew where it started, you could understand why its not as far along as you think it should be.
The United Way recently announced that it has raised more than $1 million for flood relief in Lewis County. The organizations executive director, Debbie Campbell, said she wanted board members to see where the money is going.
Adna
The first stop for the charter bus was in Adna, where Lewis County Sheriffs commander Steve Aust explained how a high school batting cage had been turned into a makeshift command center immediately following the floods. Just across the field sat a pile of rubble that once comprised a home.
The main street through Adna, still littered with debris amidst a flurry of rebuilding efforts, was hit by about 4¼ feet of water. Aust said it is his understanding that the current was moving about 30 to 40 miles per hour through here.
You can imagine the damage that created, Aust said.
However, imagination was not a necessary component for understanding the damage caused by the floods. Several feet of mud still plasters many of the fields in the area and examples of the devastation are evident at every corner.
It could take local farmers up to three years to see their yields return to pre-flood levels, DeBolt said as the bus hummed along Bunker Creek Road. The next stop for the tour was a dairy farm owned by John Brunoff, an Adna man who lost more than 200 head of cattle during the floods.
The cows were kind of piled up on each other here, Brunoff said, pointing in the direction of one of his barns where dozens of cows drowned.
There was a current like you were right in the middle of the river, Brunoff said.
Recovery has been slow for Brunoff and his family. Though he has received close to 100 new cows through donations from fellow dairy farmers, he said he is nowhere near pre-flood production levels. Brunoff and his family are still working to repair and return to their house, which like the rest of the farm took on about six feet of water.
Brunoff said that the help he has received from the community has been astounding.
Everything from hot meals to water to cleaning supplies and people just helping us muck out, he said.
Ceres Hill and the Boistfort Valley
From the Brunoff dairy farm, the bus continued down Bunker Creek Road before turning to ascend Ceres Hill. From the top of the hill, which overlooks the Boistfort Valley, passengers could see the dark patches of mud and piles of wood debris that still dot the landscape.
Volunteer firefighter Gregg Peterson, who led efforts at the Boistfort Command Center, said that when crews were attempting to reach the Ceres Hill Road area following the floods, they encountered a home that had been lifted from its foundation and left in the center of the road.
In order to get access down here we had to destroy the home, Peterson said.
The remaining drive through the Ceres Hill Road area was highlighted by condemned homes and stories of rescues. The next stop on the tour was the Curtis Store in the Boistfort Valley, where new owner Ben Hearn was working with volunteers on repairing the interior.
Hearn said that the supply of volunteers in the area has dwindled as of late, and that he still has plenty of work to do on the 107-year-old structure.
Peterson said that local recovery efforts have reached a point now where expertise is needed.
We need skilled volunteers is what we need, Peterson said. Were at the point where we are no longer cleaning out from under houses. Were ready to Sheetrock those houses. People who have those skills would be great.
Mike Peroni, owner of an organic farm on Boistfort Road, told United Way board members that what he needs is machinery capable of removing the massive piles of silt and mud that cover his landscape.
He said the mud will not likely affect the farms organic certification.
As soon as the weather breaks were going to try and get something in the ground, Peroni said.
Doty and Dryad
After a quick stop on Lost Valley Road to observe cleanup of woody debris, the bus stopped at the Baw Faw Grange, which has served as command central for flood relief since early December. The tour went through Pe Ell, and then to Doty and Dryad where volunteer fire chief Chip Elliot walked the passengers through local recovery efforts.
Elliot said that in Doty and Dryad, the majority of residents are still waiting to be able to move back into their homes.
We only have about 10 people that have moved back in out of about 85 people, Elliot said.
Sixteen homes have already been condemned, Elliot said, and evidence of that fact was visible throughout the community. Only a twisted pile of scorched scrap metal remains where a mobile home once stood on Leudinghaus Road. On Meskill Road, Elliot pointed out the home of a local couple who recently received a donated triple wide.
Were slowly getting people back into their houses, Elliot said.
The tour also stopped at the site of three bridges that were destroyed during the flooding. The bus, which was donated for the day by Holland America, attempted to cross the temporary Bailey bridge that connects River Road with Leudinghaus Road. After several attempts, the bus eventually took an alternative route while the passengers crossed the bridge on foot.
On River Road, Campbell stopped to talk with Sue Griffiths, who along with her husband Dil, was the recipient of a new home that was facilitated through the United Way. The Griffiths recently moved into the home, and are settling in, though the road and surrounding area still bears the marks of a community devastated by flooding.
Once I put some pictures up then I will feel more like its home, Griffiths said.
The final stop of the tour was Rainbow Falls State Park, which is still devastated from the flooding.
Campbell said that she thought the tour showed board members that the need for recovery assistance is still prevalent, and that money raised thus far has been spent wisely.
I think they learned that it isnt something that is miraculously going to be done, Campbell said.
Eric Schwartz covers municipal government and health for The Chronicle. He may be reached at 807-8245.
