‘Mud-out’ work begins in Iowa after flooding

DES MOINES, Iowa — Two dozen Southern Baptist disaster relief volunteers were in Des Moines and surrounding Iowa communities the week of Sept. 7 for “mud-out” recovery work following mid-August flooding.

The volunteers worked at 10 homes Sept. 7, and more homes were being referred to the group each day, said Ty Berry, who leads Iowa Baptists’ disaster relief ministry as the Baptist Convention of Iowa’s evangelism and pastoral care team leader.

True Bible Baptist Church in Des Moines is providing lodging and meals for the volunteers from Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky doing mud-out recovery. True Bible Baptist volunteers are feeding the crews with assistance from Iowa Baptists’ disaster relief feeding unit.

Also at the church, a shower trailer from the State Convention of Baptists in Indiana is providing a place for the volunteers to shower and do laundry. The mud-out crews remove water, mud and debris from flooded basements and homes and then clean and sanitize the walls down to the concrete or the studs with a mixture of water and commercial mold-inhibiting chemicals.

Operations were expected to continue into mid-September.