Surveying the Damage

On Thursday night (9-9-2004) I was asked to volunteer as a damage assessor for the Emergency Management Agency in Guernsey County. Waters were still quite high and many roads were still impassable as of Friday. Saturday several groups of EMA volunteers, myself among them, canvassed neighborhoods in Cambridge, Byesville, Derwent and Senecaville.

As part of the two-man crew to canvass Cambridge, we encountered a constant theme: flooded out basements. Sure, the water levels within them varied, from 2 to 10 feet of water. But along certain streets in the low parts of town next to Wills Creek, many houses had completely filled basements. Luckily, no one we talked to had water enter their first floor living quarters. As my partner and I moved through the affected areas, we asked residents to describe the nature of the damage. We also handed out business cards and made sure they knew that Guernsey EMA would try to assist them.