Shawnee High School, a public school in southern Illinois, has finally reopened after a weeklong closure due to flooding. They weren’t the only area to be affected by this historic winter flooding, though.
Gov. Rauner made disaster declarations for more than 20 Illinois counties in central and southern Illinois. The damage is still be assessed to see whether or not is significant enough to qualify for federal aid.
Although students must have enjoyed their extended winter break, it was a tough time for Wolf Lake residents and school officials. Nearly everyone suffered through some sort of flood damage.
Because the school district is located along the Mississippi River and most students live in high-risk flooding areas, the recent flood hit the whole community pretty hard.
Many Shawnee High School students had to leave their homes during the flood and many volunteered to place sandbags along the levee. This wasn’t an ideal Christmas vacation for these kids, so their dedication was admirable.
This went in line with the studying they’ve been doing on levees and flooding. Because they live in such a high-risk area, students are well-versed in how levees work and how to combat flooding.
They even had lessons at school on the topic. They were finally able to put their knowledge to use this past week when they volunteered to help their community.
On Monday, however, school was back in session, and much of the day was spent recounting stories of the flood and how they helped reduce and repair flood damage.
We hope that Wolf Lake and all the other Illinois towns and counties stricken by this terrible flood are able to bounce back quickly. And just a word of advice from us here at proCare Restoration: where there’s water damage, there’s mold. So get a mold inspection as soon as the flood water has been removed!
