Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Volunteers needed for Big Sioux River flooding preparation and cleanup. Museum will be closed through July 1st.

Hello all,

If you follow us on Facebook, then you've seen our post asking for help with preparing for the upcoming cresting of the Big Sioux River and the adverse effects it could have on our museum.

The crest of the Big Sioux River, as predicted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is expected to reach 110.3’, the highest crest since 1969. This crest could leave multiple areas of the museum with standing water and damage to valuable artifacts and exhibits.

Volunteers can help with tasks such as sandbagging, relocating gift shop items, preservation gallery materials, tools and other contents of the museum, wrapping buildings in sandbags and plastic, and general cleanup both before and after the cresting.

The museum will be completely closed to non-volunteers through this weekend, June 20-22. If you need to contact the museum regarding rescheduling of visits, questions about the reopening, etc., please call (712) 233-6996, and a staff member will return your call as soon as possible.

If you would like to aid in the flood preparation and cleanup process at any point, please contact Matt Merk at (712) 253-7531, or call the museum for more information.

Thanks for your help and support during this time. We're doing our best to protect and preserve our museum and its history. 

3 comments:

  1. i have shared this information to a pinned post on are facebook group "Stand Strong & Stand Proud Siouxland flooding" https://www.facebook.com/groups/193549904030468/ so it gets out to the public to assist you

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  2. Thank you to everyone that came out and lent a hand in our efforts to secure the buildings and move all of the artifacts and displays to higher ground. We were lucky this time around. A levy broke north of us near the town of Akron which unfortunately caused the river send much of its overflow into South Dakota farmland wiping out hunderds of acres of valuable crops. However, due to this unfortunate event all of the water run-off that went into the fields spared our museum complex as the Big Sioux River water levels only reached our back fence line stopping just a few feet short of all the buildings. Had that levy not broke, we were expecting the water in the roundhouse building to be 5 feet deep. We really appreciated all the community help and support through this and we will continue to strive to make this former railroad steam locomotive and railcar repair complex a one of a kind, family fun museum and tourist destination that all of Siouxland can be proud of.

    Once again, Thank you so very much for your help and continued support.

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