Here we flood again, February 2008

Unfortunately, the town of Ottawa, Ohio is flooding again. What a freak of nature! We didn't have a major flood of this level for at least 12 years and then within 6 months we have two major floods, the first being a 100 year flood, and now this one being a major flood event.

On the bright side (if there is one), the village of Ottawa and Putnam County already have a very good group of volunteers and agencies who are completely organized due to the previous flood event. So this will be very helpful in our second recovery.

In many conversations since the initial flood in August of 2007, it has been said that the mental health agencies and organizations were not fully utilized post-flood of the previous flood event. This is unfortunate. In this area there is commonly a will to take care our ourselves and not use outside help.

In the coming recovery, there will be many who will have been hit twice because of the flooding. If they were strong enough to endure the first time, don't just assume they may be capable of recovering the second time.

If you are aware of someone, a neighbor, a relative, a spouse, a co-worker, who is really having a tough time, please, consider enabling them or helping them seek out the appropriate mental-health care givers. Disaster is a very rare occurrence by definition. Several disasters in a row are obviously even more rare in the world. So really, let's watch each other closely and make sure that those of us who need help, go and receive help if needed.

Now is not the time to be too proud to get help for yourself or others.

My humble opinion,
Steve Teffenhardt
www.OttawaFlood.com

Important Links for the Ottawa, Ohio 2/2008 flood

• HOME, This page, and explanation of what www.OttawaFlood.com is all about
• Flood February 2008, Information about the latest flood situation
• NEWS, Links to many of the news articles that were posted online, in approximate order
• MEETINGS, Any flood related meetings we know about
• PICTURES AND VIDEO, Literally hundreds of pictures and video's from many different sources
• I NEED HELP, All the information about the resources available that we know about
• I WANT TO HELP/DONATIONS NEEDED, Great place to start if you or your organization wants to volunteer, donate time, resources or money to help in our recovery.
  • VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED NOW, MORE THAN EVER! PLEASE CONSIDER COMING TO HELP REBUILD OUR TOWN.
  • ELECTRICIANS, PLUMBERS AND PEOPLE WHO CAN HANG WALLBOARD ARE NEEDED!
• FAQs, Frequently Asked Questions, answered. ***NEW PAGE*** send us some questions via the contact page.
• IMPORTANT LINKS, Dozens of links to agencies, media outlets, information, on line white and yellow pages, churches, libraries, topographic maps, flood maps, weather, etc.
• FLOOD DISCOUNTS, Discounts listed for flood victims.
• BACK IN BUSINESS, A listing of the local merchants who have opened their doors.
• LONG TERM RECOVERY, A listing of the organizations involved with the long term recovery
• ACRONYMS/INITIALS, So many initials for everything, here are many of them defined.
• POSITIVE THOUGHTS, If you need a boost mentally, check this out.
• FLOOD HUMOR, Even in the most challenging of times, you need to laugh.
• THANK YOU!, A much too short list of people who have helped in the flood recovery.
• CONTACT If you have any information or questions, PLEASE contact us. If you have a question, probably many others would benefit from our answering it here. Also, any scrap of information related to the flood. LET US KNOW. The more we know, the more we can share, and the more others will know to help them.

OttawaFlood.com Blog on the net http://ottawaflood.blogspot.com/