Ozark Heritage Project Assists with Kentucky Flooding Disaster
Local not-for-profit organization Ozark Heritage Project assisted this past week with the horrific flooding and its disastrous aftermath in Eastern Kentucky. The camouflaged Blazer boat so often seen on our local streams involved in trash removal was doing rescue and recovery work on several still-swollen streams in the coal state, including Troublesome Creek and the Kentucky River. This was similar to when OHP and Blazer Boats of Ellington combined to provide assistance in 2017 near the Texas-Louisiana border after Hurricane Harvey.
In and around Hazard, KY; OHP spent three days doing locations and recoveries in areas isolated near water and where several of the almost fifty local bridges had been washed away. Several local streams had risen more than forty-feet during the height of the disaster. Hundreds of residents were still uncounted for at the start of the week and OHP worked to located numerous families in extremely remote areas.
During their stay, OHP donated and delivered over 100 cases of bottled water, more than 300 T-shirts, several hundred trash bags, over 200 pairs of work gloves and more than fifty children’s books. These last were sent to relocation centers for the temporarily homeless. In the several county area, more than fifty homes were washed away and totally destroyed. Hundreds others were made unlivable. Much of the supplies came from OHP’s association with the Missouri Stream Team program.
Again, Blazer Boats was a financial supporter along with several other local donors. Efforts may be followed on Stewards of the Ozarks Facebook page. Any questions, please contact Rick through phone (573) 663-2269, email emansfield2004@yahoo.com or at OHP, 701 CR 602, Ellington, MO 63638.
