New Sharon Disaster Team And Mahaska County CERT Team Up To Help In Eldon

Volunteers help clean up the basement of Eldon City Hall this past week after floodwater damaged the structure. (submitted photo)

Eldon, Iowa – The New Sharon Fire Department has had a group of volunteers who have traveled the United States helping others during natural disasters.

They have also helped those close to home, such as Marshalltown, Pella, and now Eldon.

The group from Mahaska County CERT has also been there to help their community and neighbors in times of need.

This past week, those two groups rolled up their sleeves to help the community of Eldon recover by helping clean up the city hall building there.

“It was a huge Godsend for the recovery effort,” said Wapello County Emergency Manager Tim Richmond.

The cost to have the cleanup done commercially could have potentially put the building at risk, but with the efforts of the volunteers, Richmond says it will help Eldon “Save city hall and continue to use it for that purpose.”

“So it seems like a small thing, but it’s not. It’s a big thing.”

New Sharon Fire Captain and one of the leaders of the disaster recovery team, Steve Gerard, said the volunteers filled three thirty-yard dumpsters with debris from the building.

Gerard said it was a huge undertaking, but members of the Eldon Fire Department were there to help, along with the Mayor of Eldon.

Eldon suffered significant flooding last week as a result of more than six inches of rain that caused the Chippewa Creek to overflow its banks.

The disaster recovery team works with Biloxi Fire Department out of Mississippi and has begun developing a non-profit ‘First Responders First’ group to continue their work.