Cleanup Effort Continues in Mapleton, Iowa

Uploaded by KMEG14News on Apr 25, 2011
(MAPLETON, IA) It's been more than 2 weeks since a tornado ripped through the town of Mapleton, Iowa.

The massive clean up effort continues today, and the town is pulling through, thanks, in no small part, to a strong community.

All the streets in town are clear, but clean up continues and there's still a lot to do.

"It just boggles your mind, the amount of cleanup that there is yet to do," says Colleen Sulsberger, an In-Kind Donation Coordinator in Mapleton.

After an EF-3 tornado tore through Mapleton on April 9, the clean up effort is still well underway, and what's been done is much to the credit of a massive amount of volunteers.

"It's overwhelming. We're all moved to tears by the outpouring of support and help from people," says Sulsberger.

Students have been a driving force behind community rehabilitation, the young group has logged more than 15,000 volunteer hours so far.

The effort is piling up, there's an estimated 200 tons of storm debris west of town, with more still on the ground.

Most of the debris is from houses that are red tagged and uninhabitable, nearly 200 former homes have been marked.

"Homeless people, people that need housing, is no longer a face on the TV in some big city, these are families now that they know, that we're trying to find housing for," says Sulsberger.

It's a community that came face to face with disaster, and is pulling through; rebuilding and growing stronger.

"God brings good things from tragedy, brings people together, and that's, it's just great to live in the Midwest when something like this happens," says Sulsberger.

Donations are still needed, officials say the best ideas right now are gift cards and monetary donations.

The government pitching in to help with the cleanup.

Governor Terry Branstad launched an individual disaster assistance grant program, Monday.

The program covers Monona, Buena Vista, Pocahontas and Sac counties.

It provides up to $5,000 for households that qualify, the money is aimed to help residents get jump started on the road to recovery.

Residents can go to the Department of Human Services web site to get more information on the program.

http://www.dhs.state.ia.us/

This story was reported by Jacob Heller. You can contact him at: jheller@kmeg.com