Wildlife service seeks volunteers to help with flood clean up

It was house, then a boat, now wreckage
Bonnie and Rogers Oldham's house in Stockton was ripped off its foundation during flash floods in the summer of 2007. This is all that remains of their home.
MPR Photo/Sea Stachura

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is asking the public to help clean up the flood plain from last year's flash floods.

Last August floods swept through seven counties in southeastern Minnesota.

Fish and Wildlife Service District Manager Mary Stefanski said the flood turned Garvin Brook near Minnesota City into a raging river, one hundred feet wide.

"It just took out everything, railroad bridges, everything got taken out. So all of that stuff, if you had anything in your garage or your backyard, it ended up on the refuge. That could be gas cans, oil cans, kids play equipment, a piece of your lawn mower," Stefanski said.

On Saturday April 26th Stefanski said the Fish and Wildlife Service will hold a clean up project near Minnesota City.

She said volunteers need to bring gloves and closed toe shoes. The clean-up takes place from 10 a.m. until two p.m.

She asks volunteers to park at the Prairie Island Spillway in Winona, Minn. A shuttle bus will take volunteers to and from the refuge every half hour.