Neighbors helping neighbors • Area volunteers travel to Southwest Iowa for flood relief

A group of volunteers from the Hampton area saw firsthand the impact of historic flooding in Southwest Iowa.

Chris Sauke, of Church of the Living Word, organized a group of 15 volunteers to travel to Hamburg, Iowa Saturday to assist with flood cleanup. The group arrived in Hamburg at 9 a.m. Saturday and got to work helping a homeowner prepare a flooded basement repairs.

“We went in and gutted the whole basement,” said Sauke. “They weren’t saving anything down there, so we went down and hauled it all out.”

The group worked until about 2:30 p.m. on the house hauling out carpet, dry wall, appliances and anything else that was caught in the floodwaters. Sauke said it was hard to emphasize how much water had gotten into the basement but one peculiar sight summed it up.

“Back in the corner was more of an unfinished room that had a simple fixture with a light bulb exposed and there was water in the light bulb,” he said.

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