Congregations brought more than 150 flood buckets to the 2017 Northeastern Iowa Synod Assembly to be stored in key locations in the synod in case of flooding. St. John Lutheran, Cedar Falls, donated another 150 buckets as part of the congregation’s 150th anniversary celebration. Other congregations have reached out to help neighboring communities affected by flooding
Flooding hits Sumner and Mason City
Half of the more than 150 flood buckets collected in June at the 2017 Synod Assembly were put to use in response to flooding that hit the town of Sumner and the surrounding area the following month. Parts of Northeastern Iowa received up to 10 inches of rain in a 24-hour period in July 2017, causing flooding throughout many areas. St. John (Buck Creek) and St. John Evangelical were among the places receiving damage from the floods.
Pastor Mark Anderson and Pastor Steve Brackett, assistants to the Bishop, along with Beverly Anderson, collected nine buckets from Redeemer Lutheran in Waverly, on Saturday morning and brought the buckets, a generator and other supplies to Sumner.
Pastor Scott Duffus enlisted the help of middle school students to load 58 buckets from Grace Lutheran in Tripoli onto a trailer to deliver to the community emergency response team at the Hillcrest Home in Sumner. Later in the weekend Anderson delivered another nine buckets from Glenwood Lutheran in Decorah.
“We were the first group there with flood buckets,” Anderson said. “Having those flood buckets on hand and ready to go made a big difference.”
By the summer or 2018, a year, two-thirds of the 300 flood buckets that were donated to the Northeastern Iowa Synod were used up. Flood buckets were delivered twice to Mason City during the summer of 2018 to respond to flooding.
