O’FALLON, Mo. – Large containers sit in the front yards of homes in the Copperfield subdivision in O’Fallon; all full of debris and items damaged in the floods.
It’s been days since devastating floods hit the subdivision, and residents are still cleaning up from the water damage.
“We’ve been here for 18 years and we had a lot of stuff and we threw it all away. I mean it was just..we had to throw everything away,” said Darryl Stith. Smith said his basement completely flooded, and the main floor got eight to ten inches of water on it.
“The amount of damage could be anywhere from an inch of water in the basement to a foot, six feet, full basements,” said President of the Copperfield Resident Association Steve Williams.
“We have elderly [residents], single moms, people that don’t have the manpower to pull those heavy items out of their basement,” said Vice President of the Copperfield Resident Association Stephanie Whitman.
“We were hoping, not just for us, but for all of our neighbors that FEMA or SEMA would have come by because so many of these people don’t have anything, no family,” said Debra Stith.
The subdivision’s pool turned into a makeshift command center, to help roughly 80 families get the resources they need.
“We’ve had ministries come in on their own, that we don’t even know where they came from, that are doing mold sprays and rip-outs for free for these people, which has been a blessing,” said Whitman. However, what they need the most is more manpower.
“Carpet has to come out, drywall has to come out, appliances, personal items, furniture,” said Williams.
Williams said the city started providing dumpsters starting Wednesday and has been running trucks to clear the dumpsters out every day, starting Thursday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.
He shared how it’s been a huge help, but they’re not even close to being done with getting the trash out.
Items they need the most right now are cleaning and disinfecting supplies. They have set up a GoFundMe page for the neighborhood. If you’d like to help the Stith family, they’ve set up a GoFundMe page here.
