Salvation Army helps Elkhart flooding victims

ELKHART, Ind. --- The Elkhart County Salvation Army helped more than 300 families with flood relief on Saturday.

A group went around in mobile canteens to hand out hot meals and give information on how to receive aid.

“Anytime with any flooding there’s a lot of unknown,” said Shawn DeBaar with the Elkhart County Salvation Army.

One couple returned to a home they’ve owned for more than 20 years to see what was left. Cindy and Gerald Darling said their hopes to salvage the home were very low.

“The floors are buckling up, the walls are probably going to have to be removed and replaced,” Gerald Darling said. “The basement, we don’t know because we haven’t been down there yet.”

 Cindy Darling said the water was very high when she first saw the home earlier in the week. At one point the water reached the top of the basement stairs.

“Everything here was totally underwater,” she said.

On Saturday, the couple was pumping water from the basement to their backyard so they could explore more.

“I just look around at everything that’s ruined now, and it’s just hard to see,” Darling said.

DeBaar said it’s important to continue to support the victims of last week’s floods.

“As they begin to really deal with, and internalize, the financial resources and material resources, it’s going to take to help them get back to a place of normal,” he said.

“Every time  I come back here I feel sad because we don’t live here any longer,” Cindy Darling said. “And now, yeah, and now it might not be here any longer.”

If you live in Elkhart County and need flooding aid, click here to get help from the Salvation Army.