Help, patience needed in Pontoosuc

Amy Reeves, center, and Jan Morris, right, load their car with supplies, helped by John Mason, after a meeting in Pontoosuc Monday evening.

Few Pontoosuc residents are living in their homes, but they gathered Monday evening for a town meeting. They heard a message of encouragement and patience from village president Bob Durand.

A FEMA meeting for local officials Monday in Quincy, attended by Durand, told of assistance coming to towns and villages.

“They will provide help for our streets, for sandbags and for repairs to the village hall,” he told the residents, gathered at picnic tables outside the earlier flooded village hall.

“The village will need to hire an individual contractor to haul out all this material taken out of the homes. That cost will be paid 75 percent from FEMA and 25 percent by the village,” Durand said.

“This meeting was all about towns. They said nothing about buy-outs or elevation for individual homes,” Durand said. He urged residents to keep trash separated so that some of the material can be burned when the city receives a permit from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

“Everything takes time. We have to be patient. We have to document everything we do so that we can be reimbursed, like for the hauler. If we are patient, they'll get to it.”

About 12 homes in the Pontoosuc/Rio Vista area did not have flood damage. Some of those residents are living at home. Most people are working to strip their homes of water damaged material and living in other places. Piles of debris wait for the contracted hauler to begin the removal.

Durand explained that there is a FEMA agent who will work with Hancock and Henderson counties. He is finishing up work in Pike County before he comes to this area.

There was some good news for families. Boxes of non-perishable food, enough to feed a family for a week were handed out after the meeting, along with bottled water, blankets, bleach and cleaning supplies. A schedule of times was set up when more supplies would be available.

A group from the Church of Christ have settled in at Burlington, Iowa, and are offering help to families in tearing out damaged parts of their homes or making repairs.

Residents were urged to sign up for this help. They were also urged to file paperwork with the Small Business Administration as the first step to getting help from FEMA. Offices are available in Quincy and Fort Madison or Burlington, Iowa. This step is for home owners, and not just businesses.

“An appraiser must come and assess every house that was damaged. If you have insurance and if there was 50 percent damage, you should get money for elevation,” Durand said.

The Hancock County Health Department plans a meeting with residents using well water, handing out water test kits, and explaining how to follow-up on the test. The group was also told that flood victims fill out paperwork for food stamps.