Winter flooding recovery efforts continue in Kincaid

KINCAID, Ill. (AP) - Recovery efforts are continuing in central Illinois after deadly flooding in December.

Kincaid Police Chief Dwayne Wheeler tells The (Springfield) State Journal-Register (http://bit.ly/28XKa2o ) that 11 of 18 homes that were destroyed have been rebuilt or are being rebuilt. The remaining homes have been abandoned or condemned.

Officials are hoping that Habitat for Humanity can help with the four abandoned homes where no work has been done.

Wheeler says his office still gets calls from nervous residents when it rains.

The flooding was a result of two storm systems that passed through the area and dumped between 3 and 8 inches of rain, causing a river to overflow.

Theresa Gibson has been working on fixing her home while working full-time at a grocery store. Gibson also has a contractor working on her home. She has walls but they haven't been painted. She has been in her home 30 years and lost furniture, carpeting and everything in her basement.

"It's very, very tiresome. I'm here at night, right after work and all my days off," Gibson said. "When you leave work, you're either coming here to work or you're going somewhere to pick something out for the house. It's always something."

Residents in the town of about 1,470 largely didn't qualify for federal assistance after the flooding so they've been depending on volunteers and charities. Church groups have sent workers to help rebuild and donated appliance, clothing and cleaning supplies.

Two 18 year olds, Brandon Mann and Devan Everett, drowned when their truck became submerged in water near Kincaid. Forty-nine-year-old Robert E. Gordon II and 46-year-old Cindy Dexheimer drowned in a separate incident, 6 miles east of Edinburg, when their van also became submerged by floodwater.

___

Information from: The State Journal-Register, http://www.sj-r.com