BUFFALO, Iowa — As the Mississippi River's level continues to rise, the City of Buffalo is coming together to prepare for the worse.
In the last few days, Josh Ferkel, Buffalo's public works director, and his team are making a difference, bag by bag.
"We definitely appreciate all the help we've been getting," Ferkel said. "Having a great system to continue making bags at an efficient rate helps out a ton."
For the last few days, this team is using machinery to create sandbags. Many volunteers are also helping out by distributing these bags to their neighborhoods.
Butch Brookhart said the city is "one big happy family."
"We've learned a lot with previous floods," Brookhart said. "We know that we have to make sure everyone is okay and they have all the necessary things they need to be ready for this."
This team effort is the reason why many residents like Steve Van Hecke were able to be prepared for the flood.
"The city did a great job this year," Van Hecke said. "To be able to rely on them to make bags and see people with their trucks and deliver pallets of sandbags, that just means a lot to all of us."
The city says students from Davenport West High School and Buffalo Elementary School came out on Wednesday to help out make sandbags. A total of 7,500 bags were made, breaking the city's previous record of 5,000 bags made in one day. On Thursday, workers from Upper Mississippi Fleeting were helping make bags.
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