Recovery and restoration continue in the flood ravaged villages of Gowanda and Silver Creek.

Tim Stockman, of St. Mary's, Gowanda, which contracted with a flood clean-up and decontamination firm, reports that progress is being made. The clean-up effort, he says, is "massive."

"The Sunday School building is cleaned and the walls that were affected by the flood waters have been ripped out. The only thing left there is decontamination. The church is a different story! They hope to finish ripping things out there on Saturday [8/22]. Then there will be the decontamination to complete."

The Rev. Roland Cooper reported that the flood damage at St. Alban's, Silver Creek are more extensive than first thought. Warden Majorie Shumaker says they are now getting bids from contractors for the tear out, decontamination and reconstruction work that is required.

On Friday, August 21, four women from St. Paul's, Springville traveled to Gowanda to volunteer there. Cathy Ritz says, "We were amazed, welcomed with open arms and humbled—three of us are returning this Thursday."

On Saturday, August 22, the Very Rev. Earle King and Jack Krajewski (both from St. Martin's, Grand Island) met up with a team of four from St. Peter's, Westfield that included Lisa Best, Talena & Roxanne Baideme and Rob Saunders. Earle reports:

"The devastation in Silver Creek was as bad as we heard on the news. Around a hundred residences were destroy or condemned, including the trailer court. Many more sustained major damage, and many, many others sustained minor damage. It's difficult for me to imagine how significant the impact has been on this community.

"But the response has been huge. For example, of the 43 volunteer fire companies in Chautauqua County, 40 have been present to lend assistance to Silver Creek and their fire company. The fire hall in Silver Creek, which was in six feet of water less than two weeks ago, has been cleaned up and is now the center for incident command.  It's full of sponges, cleaning liquids, paper towels, latex gloves, masks, shovels, and so on. The fire hall, by the way, is the place where volunteers such as us check in.

"Jack and I arrived at the Fire Hall in Silver Creek at about 10:00 and registered as volunteers. It took about a half hour for Volunteer Coordinator Norma Cummings to find work for us. She had a list of jobs. Some were away (Forestville and Gowanda, for example). Some required skills that we did not have. Some were house cleaning, but Norma was unable to get anyone to answer a phone, and we didn't want to be breaking and entering.

Finally, we were sent to AmVets in town to help them sort and move donations. As you cn see in these photos, one of the larger projects was sorting shoes that had been donated.

In the early afternoon, we headed to the Fire Club, where lunch was being served. There, Jack and I swept and mopped the floor after the meal had been served. Twelve days earlier, there had been two feet of water and eight inches of muck on the floor. It was amazing that so much cleaning had been done.

So much more needs to be done. For those who are able to help - volunteers, goods, and money are great gifts. It was a satisfying day.