After Spearfish Creek flooded days ago, now comes relief efforts. For residents in one particularly hard-hit building, that could be a long process.
There are no reported deaths or estimates of displaced individuals as a result of Friday's flood, though 57 units in a facility for elderly and disabled people have been damaged.
While much of the city was spared the worst, those who weren’t faced the full force of the floodwater.
“These are very, very tough – just the amount of water that came along," said local Red Cross Executive Director Richard Smith. "For the people that are impacted, it’s a disaster, it’s a significant event in their lives. That it wasn’t the whole city of Spearfish? We dodged a bullet there.”
Smith, who was on the scene helping clean homes Wednesday, said they’re still assisting individuals.
“Just a wall of water came in and flooded into apartments," Smith said. "Some apartments had three feet of water in them, some apartments had just a couple inches of water in it. We’re working with people to make sure they’re safe, that they’re going to get a place to stay, and we will continue to help these families to help them on the recovery process.”
But the wheels are only just beginning to turn.
“The process is slow getting started when you have these kinds of flood incidents," Smith said. "We just completed our damage assessment, that is being looked at. We’ll take that data and that will start informing our decisions going forward of what kind of assistance there is available, what we can do, what other organizations could be able to do. It’s really just the start of the process.”
The Red Cross has opened a shelter in the Spearfish High School for people displaced by the flood.
The City of Spearfish is also seeking volunteers to assist in the recovery effort.
Volunteers can take on debris cleanup or transport efforts if they can use a personal vehicle. People with access to pickup trucks, trailers or other special equipment are in particularly high demand.
Dates for volunteering are this Friday and Saturday from morning until early afternoon. To help, call 211 or visit THIS webpage.