Oregon residents busy cleaning up after flash flood

Oregon residents and businesses were busy Sunday and Monday cleaning up after a flash flood raged through the west side of town.

As the floodwaters receded on Sunday, employees of the Village of Progress were cleaning the floor in one building while a commercial cleaner, Servpro Disaster Recovery specialists, out of Kenosha, Wisconsin, was in the main building pumping water and cleaning up mud.

“We need to get this cleaned up because what we do is so very important,” said Karen Kereven, VOP production manager for contract work, as she and Denny Arjes, VOP janitorial manager, took turns running the floor cleaner.

“I’ve never seen the water come up so high,” said Arjes.

The Village of Progress, located on Pines Road on the western edge of Oregon, is a private not-for-profit corporation that was founded in 1969 to meet the training needs of adults with disabilities who reside in Ogle County.

The purpose of the Village is to provide training services to persons with disabilities age 16 or older so that they may live a fulfilling life as contributing members of their home and community.

On Monday, Executive Director Brion Brooks said Village employees first became aware of the flooding early Saturday morning when they were contacted to supply buses with wheelchair lifts to help evacuate residents of the Oregon Living & Rehabilitation Center a few blocks away.

“When we went and checked our buses, we found we were in the middle of a lake,” he said.

The only way to reach their buildings was in four-wheel drive vehicles.

Brooks said once they got the buses on their way to the rehab center, they looked inside the building and found 80 percent of it flooded.

“The water was about a foot deep throughout the building,” he said. “It’s a helpless feeling when you have a foot of water in your building and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

When the water finally receded Saturday afternoon, it left behind mud and ruined drywall, furniture, and products Village clients make for contractors.

The extent of the damage is still being assessed and no estimate of the cost is available.

“I don’t know how long it’s going to be until we can get back in operation,” Brooks said.

Temporary offices are being set up in the Duane Herrmann Building.

Floodwaters also covered the Oregon Park District’s Lions Park, located just north of the Oregon Living & Rehabilitation Center. The softball field was completely covered on Saturday morning, but the water had receded by Sunday afternoon.

“We were fortunate at Lions Park,” said Erin Folk, park district executive director on Monday. “The water was up to the top of the outfield fence, but our guys were out there today and did a great job of getting it ready and we are planning on having a game there tonight. We did have some damage to a storage building.”

Floodwaters also covered the boardwalk that links Oregon Park West with the Wiggly Field Dog Park.

“We are still assessing the damage to the dog park,” said Folk. “We don’t see any long term damage, but we are still waiting for all the water to be gone.”

The dog park remained underwater on Saturday with water still up to the bottom of the boardwalk and over its south entrance point.

The boardwalk was constructed several years ago and prairie plants were planted around it over the area that was once called “Lake Mistake”, which was historically was known for flooding.

By Sunday morning, water had receded enough to see the mud-covered dog park.

Folk said it is uncertain when the dog park will reopen.

“They started power washing, but we have to wait and see when everything dries out,” Folk said. “But the damage for the Oregon Park District is minimal. We didn’t have buildings damaged like the VOP did or what some homeowners experienced.”

Just south of the VOP complex and the dog park, Glenn Becker and his family were trying to salvage keepsakes and collectibles from their storage unit.

“I figure I lost about $2,000 in collectibles and keepsakes,” said Becker. “We have a Bible from 1831 that is soaked.”

A man with the unit next to the Beckers who was also trying to dry out its contents said: “You can’t really put a monetary value on it. Things can be replaced, but memories can’t.”

Nearby, City of Oregon workers had their own problems to deal with.

A water main break discovered around 4 a.m. on Saturday at the corner of Webster and 10th Streets kept Water and Sewer Superintendent Dave Kent and his crew busy for the next 19 hours.

Kent said he is not sure why the main broke, but the flood waters may have been a factor.

“All that water in the area may have caused some settling,” he said.