OTTAWA — The theme of the day was “Rising Above the Waters.”
It is hard to believe but it has been a year since the “first” flood that affected the Ottawa area last year.
On Sunday, the community gathered at the Ottawa Community Park to reflect on what the past year has brought to the area.
Community was an immense thing 365 days ago when people from Putnam County and beyond came to Ottawa to help with the clean-up and rescue of those either stuck or misplaced from their homes.
The area looked like a battle zone; a year later, remnants still remain, with new houses going up and those marred by the flood still coming down. However, Sunday was a day of reflection with members of the town’s Christian clergy.
The Rev. Steve Elderbrock from the Ottawa Presbyterian Church led a service along with the Rev. Ken Pollitz from the New Creation Lutheran Church at the park, followed by a community wide picnic where many stories of loss, clean-up and even good times were shared.
Volunteers not only helped with the flood recovery, it was a volunteer effort to pull off the service on Sunday as 75 folding chairs were set up with many bringing their own lawn chairs. These spread throughout the park once people broke for the picnic lunch of grilled hot dogs and hamburgers, salads and desserts.
“We’re calling this a celebration and I’ve been asked if we should really be celebrating something so awful. It isn’t a celebrating the flood itself; we’re celebrating what happened afterward, what happened as a community and the progress we made,” the Rev. Elderbrock said. “Our church had minimal damage; we were blessed to have what little damage we had.”
The flood brought the Blanchard River to a crest of 31.7 feet, eight feet above the flood stage. During the service, the Rev. Pollitz told of people carrying damaged items from his basement. He jokingly told of a group of young men that stopped and asked if there were anything heavy to carry. He flippantly mentioned a piano under 6 feet of water, which the men eagerly pulled out of the basement. Pollitz recalled the men then asked (deeper voice) “Ya got anything heavy we can carry?”
The flood sent students at SS. Peter and Paul Catholic School to Ottawa Elementary for an entire school year as their building was decimated by the flood. The students are back in their old home; however, the basement of one of the buildings is still unusable.
One family had water from top to bottom in their basement with the waters coming just five steps from reaching the top floor. Just a few feet away across the street, the waters had destroyed everything their neighbors owned.
The disaster affected nearly 1,000 homes and cost millions of dollars in damage with houses still unoccupied and new ones going up where original houses once stood. In some cases, houses and businesses were torn down and never restored.
Nonetheless, more than 300 people who attended this ecumenical service and picnic felt ready for a party.
The efforts of the joint church service and picnic came in part from the generosity of friends, relatives and sometimes complete strangers.
“These people who just showed up in our lives are definitely a cause for celebration,” Pollitz stated.
Volunteers who came from as far away as Dayton worked in Ottawa on Saturday, still helping those who need it.
Pollitz added mental health services were still available if people felt traumatized by the August 2007 flooding.