x
Breaking News
More () »

Flash flooding in Jefferson County turns into a community clean-up effort

Immediately after the storm hit Olympian Village, neighbors spent hours helping each other clean up all the damage throughout their community.

OLYMPIAN VILLAGE, Mo. — Not only did hail cause problems Wednesday in Jefferson County, but heavy rain moved through the area, leading to flash floods.

One of the areas that experienced the worst of Wednesday's storm was the small city of Olympian Village.

Residents in Olympian Village rallied together to help every neighbor in the aftermath of the flash flooding.

Emergency Management Director Warren Robinson said Olympian Village received the most consolidated weather reports throughout the entire county.

The hardest hit area in Olympian Village was on Parthenon Drive.

There were multiple trees down, trees that fell on powerlines, trees on houses, and debris everywhere.

There was at least one water rescue on Parthenon Drive, and at least one home was flooded. 

A low-water bridge on Parthenon was completely blocked for several hours by down trees onto power lines.

It's the only passable roadway into that part of the city, so several city officials, children, the mayor of Olympian Village, and many residents spent hours clearing it so people could get in and out of their homes.

Multiple trees fell onto the roof of one mobile home blocked off by the low-water bridge, causing significant damage to the back of the home.

Once the bridge opened again, neighbors started removing the trees from the mobile home, repairing the roof, and tarping it.

The homeowner, Renee Boyer, said she was inside when the tree fell, but she wasn't injured.

"We don't have a basement to go to in a mobile home, so I was inside, and I definitely heard it and thought, oh my God, but I looked at the front window and could tell that it was across the front of the house, so at that point in time it was hailing pretty good, pretty good size hail, and I was afraid of the windows busting, so I did back away from the windows and had to wait for a while to see the actual damage," Boyer said.

Boyer said she's grateful for her neighbors helping clean up all the damage. 

"It was a pretty bad storm. It came across the back of the house, damaging the bedroom and leaking inside, but all in all, it could've been much worse, and we have an abundant amount of help from village people out here cutting the tree that fell across the street for us. I'm not even sure who all they are, but everybody he's pulling together and helping everybody," Boyer said.

The Mayor of Olympian Village, Adrianne Hulvey, said that while the storm damage was the worst she's ever seen, what stuck out the most was the neighbors helping the neighbors as the community came together to clean up their town.

"In the 15 or 16 years that I've been here, I've never seen it this bad. I've never seen this many trees down, this many trees on powerlines, but I've also never seen this many neighbors come out to help each other," Mayor Hulvey said.

Emergency management said they did not receive any reports of injuries in the area.

Before You Leave, Check This Out