WA Squadron in Flood Recovery - Cadet Needs Help

[SeattleSarge]

A report from the Lewis County Composite Squadron.  Right in the middle of the flooding in Southwest Washington...

Hello Washington Wing.

This has been a busy Week! Saturday morning we started with the Walk N Knock at that Salvation Army, we helped other community members with gathering sorting and storing close to 12000 lbs of food. Saturday afternoon we helped decorate the National Guard Armory for a dinner to honor the guardsmen of our community. We then went out to Napavine and lead the Napavine winter parade. We had the Color Guard, then 10 cadets and 2 senior members marched after the color guard. To follow up we had the CAP Van and then the Glider trailer Towed by Capt Greenman (Capt Greenman did a great job decorating the Glider Trailer) We then had the ES trailer towed to bring up the rear. All of this in a snow flurry!!

Who would have ever guessed we would be so busy and it did not stop there!

A Flood in Lewis County!

We are through the rescue stage for the most part and are now moving into recovery and rebuilding. At this point our squadron has been busy helping throughout the county.

We have cadets and seniors helping clean up the Veterans Museum, receiving flood relief items, sorting thousands of boxes of donated clothing and food and welcoming flood victims as they arrive at the Salvation Army Shelter.

The Glider is at this time safe. It was moved to higher ground. The Trailer may have had water up to the floor but until I can inspect it I will not know for sure.

Monday night we transported 45 helicopter rescue victims to local shelters form the Centralia Airport until the flood water was impassable. Four Cadets helped make meals for the Helicopter Aircrew's and the folks they brought into the Airport while at the Airport Monday evening. The Cadets also fueled Coast Guard, National Guard and King County Sheriff Helicopters as they rotated into the Airport to drop off flood victims, fuel up and turn right around and go back out.

The community has been hit hard. More damage in my estimation than the 1996 flood. This flood had a different "personality" and moved with an unbelievable speed. The Airport went from dry to 3+ feet of water in 2 hours!

One of our Cadets and her family had to be rescued from their roof at 10:30pm Monday night by helicopter. They lost everything. Cadet Kristina Wulff will be needing uniforms, boots, ES gear and any other CAP gear we can muster for her. Of course her whole family will need clothing, coats, shoes, and other support. I am sure the family will appreciate anything we can do for them. Feel free to contact me at [edited, see end of message] if you can help.

There may be other members that need assistance and we will let you all know as time goes by.

This afternoon we unloaded two 52 foot tractor trailers of relief materials gathered by Ikea and KOMO news. It was incredible to see all the material donated. A BIG THANK YOU TO THE PEOPLE OF KING COUNTY and the those who donated! Also a big thanks to the South Sound Squadron for sending two Cadets and two senior members to help with the unloading and sorting of clothing.

I am very proud of the members of our units and the hard work they are putting forth. We have weeks of hard work ahead and I am sure we will rise up to the task.

Thanks

Daniel A Whalen 1Lt CAP
Commander
Lewis County Composite Squadron

NOTE: Lieutenant Whalen can be contacted at: whalenworks@gmail.com

-SeattleSarge

[Johnny Yuma]

Keep us posted on your cadet and her family. Maybe we can muster up something here.

[SeattleSarge]

Update from Lt. Whalen,

First of all, THANK YOU for the outpouring of offers for help and prayers. I am overwhelmed with the generosity of our friends and colleagues! I have received offers of help from as far away as Alaska, Louisiana and New Hampshire! 

Krystina Wulff's family is doing well and has been overwhelmed with offers of help. Krystina did lose all of her Cadet packet materials and notebooks. Stay tuned for more on her situation. Another Cadet, Andrew Highet had about 2 feet of water in his house. He will eventually be needing uniform items.

Recovery is progressing as best as can be expected. We were blessed with a clear blue sky Saturday to help in the clean up process. Now we have a new challenge! We woke to an inch of SNOW on the ground. At this point it looks to be a lite but steady snowfall. This will certainly not be welcomed by those with no heat or power!  All we can do is Lean forward and keep working to help were we can.

Saturday we had a work day at the Airport to help clean up from the devastating flood. The water level was 24 inches deeper than in the 1996 flood ( a claimed 100 year flood) The fine silty mud that covered everything was extremely slick and it was very time consuming to remove. A big thank you to all who helped.

Our office at the Airport was destroyed. No other description will do at this point. Though we had just started to utilize the space and had not moved a lot of equipment or any files there we still lost almost all the furniture file cabinets, a computer and some other electronics. We lost our DDR brief case and a lot of recruiting material.

Our cleanup included removing equipment, furniture and Carpets.We scraped mud and hosed the building out. It was a job you don't want to have to do very many times in your life. We had a great turnout and had outstanding effort from everyone. Not a complaint in the whole time we were working. The crew worked hard and got the job done. At least phase one. There is a lot of work ahead.

The Glider was not damaged but did get about an inch of water in the bottom. We will get it cleaned up ASAP

We continue to help in the community as we can, My wife, Lt Rita Whalen has worked managing the intake of clothing at the Salvation Army 10-12 hours a day for the last week starting on Monday even before the main body of the flood hit. They have received of 30,000 clothing and support items. Boots, socks, kids clothing, diapers, gloves coats and just about any personal care items are needed.
In Pe Ell S/M Elizibeth Isham and her two Cadets Zack and Katina have been working every day, cleaning homes, helping feed families and hauling equipment and supplies.

In one of the hardest hit areas in Lewis County, the Boistfort Valley and the Curtis area the Peterson family, Lt Gregg Peterson, Lt Ruth Peterson, C/Lt Col David Peterson , C/CMSgt John Peterson and their sister Jennifer have been running the Boistfort Grange rescue shelter. The have been with out fresh water in the valley since Monday. Try cleaning mud without water!! The Peterson's have been working very hard and have been helping in every way possible.

IT is time now to get back after the relief effort and get things cleaned up and finish pumping our basement. I have some photos of the area on the link below.

http://picasaweb.google.com/PCRWA110

More will follow.

Thanks
Daniel A Whalen, 1Lt CAP
Commander
Lewis County Composite Squadron

1Lt Whalen can be reached at: whalenworks@gmail.com

-SeattleSarge