Nonprofit Helps Homeowners with Flooding Damage
Homeowners in Burlington are continuing the clean-up after Wednesday’s (July 12th) flooding.
Now, many of them won’t have to deal with the process alone.
Several nonprofits are in town lending a helping hand.
Cbs 58 followed a crew from Samaritan’s Purse, a nonprofit that assists towns across the country when natural disasters occur. They’re equipped with everything from cleaning supplies to power tools. All of their services are free to homeowners.
“This is amazing what they’re doing to help me,” says homeowner Joseph Solik whose basement received nearly five feet of water. “I was lost thinking I was going to have to do it all myself.”
Solik has lived in his Burlington home for 16 years and adds he’s never seen flooding like the one seen last week.
“It’s a beautiful place to live but you have a risk when this happens,” Solik explained. “Most of the time the water only gets to be about a foot at the worst, but this got up to be about 4-5 feet.”
Inside Solik’s basement was a 3,000 book library, which was able to only salvage about a third.
“What we do is the clean-up process so we help remove belongings, take out the sheet rock, the flooring, the insulation, and then we spray for mold,” says Debra Cooper, ministry program manager.
Best of all, the services are free to homeowners like Solik who are now having to toss out their personal belongings that were impacted.
The nonprofit ministry has volunteers across the country. Organizers say they keep an eye out for natural disasters and then asses the area to determine if their services are needed.
“When things go haywire you’ve obviously got people willing to commit, volunteer, and just come in a loving way to help and that’s amazing to me,” says Solik.
The organization arrived in Burlington on Monday and they already have more than 50 work orders to fill.
Organizers say they plan on staying through the beginning of August but will stay as long as they’re needed.