Flood damage assessment begins in Elkhart County

by Ed Ernstes (ernstes@wsbt.com)

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Elkhart County Emergency Management and Red Cross assessing flood damage in Elkhart County

Volunteers with the Elkhart County Emergency Management Office stopped by Stanard Phillips' Goshen home as part of their efforts to document all the flood damage in the county. The information could be useful for flood relief assistance. (WSBT photo)

By Beth Boehne

Story Created: Jan 14, 2008 at 4:49 PM EST

Story Updated: Jan 20, 2008 at 11:14 PM EST

ELKHART COUNTY — The Elkhart County Emergency Management Office needs to document all the flood damage in the county. The information could be useful for flood relief assistance.

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Volunteer teams with the County Emergency Management Office are fanning out around the county. They’re visiting areas with flood damage.

"To get damage assessment, to get information only, about what damage has been done and to document those things through our system,” explained Mike Pennington of Elkhart County Emergency Management.

One of their stops was Stanard Phillips’ property in Goshen, which was flooded last week.

"We had our car, it was sitting out here, it looked like it was in the middle of a pond,” Phillips told WSBT News. “[We] got a little flood damage to the bottom of the floor boards. We had a fence over here next to the pond that fell down."

The County Emergency Management Office says it is very important to get accurate information about flood damage countywide, in the event that some kind of relief assistance could become available.

“The information is very important for us to be able to document all that information and to be able to use that for any future use, if in fact there were ever any things available, any funds available for that,” Pennington said.

The Red Cross is lending a hand with that assessment.

“We kind of share our information, between the two of us. However, we do have our own forms than we need to fill out, for the Red Cross,” said Deb Moore of the Elkhart County Red Cross. “We will be going door to door today, so if you see our trucks out and about they will be stopping at your homes."

The Red Cross also has a booklet called “Repairing Your Flooded Home” available for flood victims. It gives tips on everything from checking gas and electric lines to water damage in your walls.

"We have a really nice booklet to give you about what to do after the flood,” Moore said.

For more information contact:

Elkhart County Emergency Management
(574) 535-6590

Elkhart County Red Cross
(574) 293-6519

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