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Residents urged to hang onto sandbags

The end of this year's flooding may not be here just yet, but with it in sight, the question arose at the June 1 Government Day meeting about what residents should do with the sandbags they used to protect their property.

Upper Blackfoot Valley Community Council Chairman Bill Frisbee said volunteers in Lincoln filled close to 15,000 sandbags, which went out to the community here.

Earlier in the meeting, the topic of sandbags came up when Lincoln Fire Chief Zach Muse expressed his appreciation for local volunteers who turned out to help their neighbors, and to the county for the sandbags they were willing to provide.

Lewis and Clark County provided Lincoln with the sandbags as part of a goodwill effort to help county residents protect their homes. After facing backlash from Helena area residents, the commissioners pointed out they didn't have a legal responsibility to provide them for private property protection. They also noted that getting rid of the sandbags isn't necessarily the county's responsibility.

County Public Works Director Eric Griffin advised residents to get rid of them if they had been contaminated by dirty water. Otherwise he suggested covering them and saving them.

Muse agreed and said he's been trying to get people to save them as well.

"This may not be the last time we flood, but this may be the last time we get that many sandbags free," he said.

Although the sandbags can deteriorate quickly in direct sunlight, they can last for quite some time if covered and stored properly. Muse said some residents re-used sandbags they'd saved from the flood of 2011.

For people who can't store them, Muse urged people to bring the sandbags out to Fire Station 3 east of town, where the Fire Department can store them in their sand shed for future emergencies.

"Just bring them back out there and well pile them up and keep them. It's not over yet," he said. "We're gonna keep the sand and the sandbags one way or another. We're not gonna let them rot."

 

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