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After umpteen buckets of mud were cleared out of his mother-in-law’s basement, Russell Drinkall took a pressure washer to it — at least until dirt from an exposed wall clogged the drain.
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Russell Drinkall of Arlington, Minn., uses a power washer, Friday, to clean off totes in the driveway of his mother-in-law, Marlys McCluskey's North High Street home in Rushford. Drinkall and his wife, Lynn, brought the power washer from their home, using it in the basement, driveway, and for cleanup. The totes had been used to haul mud out of the flood damaged basement of the McClusky home.
(Photo by Melissa Carlo/Winona Daily News) |
“There’s a lot of hours left. ... Mud was up to my neck down there,” said Julia McCluskey as she washed tins in the driveway. “You don’t realize the cleanup until you actually start.”
Pressure washers are in short supply in flood-damaged Rushford, where residents need them to stop mold — a critical step in the cleanup process.
An estimated 200 homes in Rushford still need to be pressure washed now that the mud has been scooped out and water is available, said Laura Deering, a Rushford city council member who is coordinating volunteer cleanup.
“There was some ugly rumor that we’re all done here, but that’s not the case,” Deering said. “Our inspectors say this is very pressing, and I know we need power washers and hoses for drainage — that is our next step after mucking.”
The water in Rushford has been super-chlorinated and approved for cleaning flood-damaged items but not for washing dishes, bathing, showering or drinking.
Joyce Lee has scrubbed her walls, floors, closets and windows twice with bleach and disinfectant. Sometimes she used a scraper, other times a toothbrush. She knows the walls and floor tiles will eventually be ripped out, but she’s a self-proclaimed cleaning fanatic.
“I don’t want fungus… this house has so much history,” said the 76-year-old with a peach-colored bandana around her forehead and a silver angel necklace. “My mom always said you can eat off of Joyce’s floors.”
Luckily, her sons pressure-washed the basement and saved her from using a toothbrush.
Lynn Gatlin and about 17 others from the Beech River Baptist Association in Lexington, Texas, have spent the last week ripping out wet installation, cleaning mud and pressure washing basements in a dozen Rushford homes. The disaster relief crew were packing up and decontaminating their equipment before heading home Friday afternoon.
“We’ve done two to three houses a day, and they’re ready to rebuild,” Gatlin said. “We can’t take another week off, but another crew will come down in about a week.”
Morris “Butch” Alfson, a driver for United Agri Products in Harmony, Minn., cleared out several peoples’ muddy basements Friday with a high-pressure water hose attached to a tanker truck. Squeegees and a smile are his tools.
“We’re here until they need it,” Alfson said. “A guy over here wanted to pay me. I tell ‘em, ‘You survived the flood, didn’t you? That’s payment enough.’”
VOLUNTEERS & PRESSURE WASHERS NEEDED IN RUSHFORD:
Register online at www.uwolmstead.org or call 1-800-543-7709 or 211
Reporter Amber Dulek can be reached at (507)453-3513 or amber.dulek@lee.net.
