Threat of more rain hangs over Schuyler

SCHUYLER -- Residents were busy today carrying soggy furniture and carpeting out of flooded basements while casting worried eyes to a rain-swollen Shell Creek on the northeast edge of the community.

“The ground is saturated, and if we get much more rain, Shell Creek won’t take long to reach flood stage again,’’ said Sue Jacobus, public information officer for the Colfax County Emergency Management Agency.

Jacobus said the National Weather Service has forecast a chance of thundershowers every day this week. Showers are expected to be most likely Wednesday and Thursday.

Unless the water table goes down, any more rain this week could send Shell Creek spilling out of its banks, Jacobus said.

The forecast calls for a 50 percent chance of thunderstorms Wednesday with a high in the upper 70s. The chance or rain swells to 70 percent on Wednesday night.

On Thursday, the weather service expects more showers with highs in the mid-70s. Chance of rain is 60 percent in the afternoon and rises to a 70 percent chance overnight.

Emergency volunteers deployed thousands of sandbags around the northeast side of Schuyler beginning Friday afternoon and continuing into Saturday morning. Floodwaters have since receded, leaving a gooey coating of debris and mud on everything.

At the height of the flooding, about 250 homes were threatened by rising waters. An estimated 150 homes were damaged by floodwaters, with eight families permanently displaced because of the extent of the damage to their homes.

“There’s mud and corn stalks sprinkled all over,’’ said Jacobus, noting that surging floodwaters carried the mud and corn stalks in from area agricultural fields.

“We had floodwaters 4- and 5-feet deep on streets in neighborhoods,’’ she said. “The headache was that the water didn’t recede. There was no place for it to go.’’

Residents and volunteers are continuing today to lug sodden televisions, freezers, computers and other electronic gear out of basements that had floodwaters up to the rafters and even lapping at the main floor of many homes, Jacobus said.

About two dozen homes remained without utilities today.

Floodwaters never threatened city drinking water, but an estimated dozen private wells operating in the community could have been contaminated. Water-testing kits are available from emergency officials.

East-Central Health District provided flood victims with a shot in the arm Monday during a free tetanus shot clinic at the fire station. Nearly 500 shots were available to anyone who had been exposed to floodwaters and had not had a booster shot in 10 years.

“We’re expecting another 1,000 doses to arrive today,’’ Jacobus said. A second tetanus shot clinic is set for 4-6 p.m. today at the Oak Ballroom.

The community has received an outpouring of offers of help and volunteers from area hospitals, fire departments and the health district, Jacobus said.

Emergency management officials have established a site on 13th Street between A and B streets along the Union Pacific Railroad tracks for residents to dispose of furniture and other items damaged by flooding. It’s the same site the city typically uses in June for a spring cleanup day in the community.

“This year it’s just coming a couple of weeks early,’’ smiled Jacobus, who has been getting about three hours of sleep a night since flooding began Friday evening.