Tuesday, March 09, 2004

SCOTT DAVIS,
THE SAGINAW NEWS

Dave Jackson and his wife, Kristine, waded through a foot of water to the front door of their house, not knowing whether they would need scuba gear for the basement.

Two days earlier, the Saginaw Township couple had fled the home, on West Michigan near South Center -- two castaways hoping to escape the rising waters of the Tittabawassee River.

As waters began to recede Monday, Dave Jackson, wearing chest-high rubber waders, ventured inside and emerged minutes later with a smile and a "thumbs up."

His yard will resemble Venice for the next few days, but his home itself mostly had escaped damage, except for 2 inches of water accumulation in the basement.

Now, the cleanup begins for the Jacksons and other flood victims.

Homeowners should get the water out as soon as possible, said Gary Burton, owner of Burton Cleaning of Birch Run.

"Then get dryers -- fans or dehumidifiers -- working, because you have to dry it out fast," he said.

Burton said not many businesses will tackle wet basements because of the work and filth involved, but he has done some in his 16 years in business.

"You can easily put in 30 hours or more of work, and that's just for an average-size full basement with clear rainwater in the basement," he said.

"Some basements I won't even touch. I would have to judge it by the amount of mess because it's a stinky, rotten mess."

Once the bulk of the water is drained or pumped out, Burton said, homeowners should squeegee the floor and mop it with disinfectant.

"You want to clean it up quick before the cooties and mold can get established," he said. "When I clean, I use something with bleach in it. I'll go to a supplier, tell them what I have, and they usually have something for the job."

The cost to clean up a basement will add up faster than the water rose -- about $125 for an empty basement to $400 to $500 for an average basement.

"But that's just rainwater or a drain backing up, not sewer," Burton said.

If carpet is involved, prices escalate -- especially if they are glued down, because they often fall apart and workers have to scrape the floor.

A 1986 flood caused $26,000 in damage to the Jacksons' home.

This time, "we still got power and heat," Dave Jackson said. "We got off very lucky. We feel very fortunate."

The Jacksons are among more than a dozen residents along West Michigan and South Center who left their homes over the weekend to escape river flooding caused by melting snow and rain. Some like the Jacksons were able to return to their homes Monday.

A handful of roads in Saginaw County remained closed this morning, including West Michigan at South Center, Riverview between Dixie and Rook in Bridgeport and Pettit between Canada and Rathbun in Taymouth Township.

County crews have reopened River between Geddes and Miller in Thomas Township, but they continued to close River between Gratiot and Geddes. Officials planned to reopen the entire road and West Michigan and South Center by this evening.

Saginaw Township Fire Chief Richard Powell said firefighters evacuated at least nine homes on West Michigan. He said the families were planning to stay with relatives or friends.

Kristine, 50, and Dave Jackson, 49, a captain with the Fire Department, slept on couches at a township fire station. They brought along their Labrador puppy, Tucker.

"We felt comfortable there," he said. "All my friends were there."

Across from Jackson's home, John and Lucy Munguia breathed a sigh of relief. The couple's home had sustained $20,000 in damage during the 1986 flood, and they watched in dread as the water crept to their front yard during the weekend.

They spent part of the weekend packing clothes and moving valuables from the basement -- just in case.

As it turned out, they didn't have to flee the house.

"We had an eye on it, and we were ready to go," John Munguia said. "The last time our home got flooded, we were out for a week."

John Taylor, 56, anchored his shed near Miller and Frost as the floodwaters rose, hoping to keep the Tittabawassee River from sweeping it away.

Water washed through a stand of pine trees in his back yard over the weekend, lapping within 50 feet of his home.

"I haven't seen this kind of flooding since 1986," he said.

But the floodwaters carried a deeper meaning for Taylor, who has joined a lawsuit accusing Dow Chemical Co. of polluting the Tittabawassee River with dioxin.

He claims floodwaters carried the industrial toxin onto his property historically and exposed him to potential health risks and a loss in property values.

But dioxin didn't worry Taylor this weekend. For one thing, it didn't carry that "chemical smell" that it did almost 20 years ago, he said.

Taylor suspects that the flood had no effect on dioxin along the river. "The damage is already done," he said.

Dow spokeswoman Anne Ainsworth could not say how flooding would affect dioxin levels. However, she said the chemical company has kept a lid on its wastewater during a week of heavy rain and snowmelt.

"Our water treatment system is managing even though the water is high," she said.

Ainsworth reported no releases of partly-treated water into the Tittabawassee River. t

Scott Davis is a staff writer for The Saginaw News. You may reach him at 776-9665.

© 2004 Saginaw News