BUFFALO, Iowa — Buffalo, Iowa is rallying together to make sure they are as ready as possible for this year's flooding. As of early Sunday afternoon, April 23, the Mississippi River levels at Rock Island are at 17 feet. The National Weather Service projects that number to rise to roughly 21 feet within a week, less than two feet away from the record crest of 22.7 feet set in 2019.
In 2019, the entire town of Buffalo suffered severe flooding, something they are desperately trying to avoid this time around. Volunteers like Adam Gerischer are spending their chilly weekend helping the community.
"For as many years as Buffalo has been around, we really get together pretty well, and build walls for everybody and help everybody out," Gerischer said. He is planning to use at least a couple hundred sandbags to build a two-to-three-foot-high wall around his property.
With the assistance of an automatic hopper supplied by the Scott County Emergency Management system, volunteers were able to fill between 10,000-20,000 sandbags this weekend.
The City of Buffalo's Public Works Director, Josh Ferkel, wasn't around in 2019, but he has been informed on the horrors that took place then.
"I've done everything I can to get as much sand here that I possibly could," Ferkel said. "Just in like my reserves, I believe we have 135,000 sandbags. In 2019, I believe we used 85,000 sandbags." Ferkel says moving forward he hopes to increase that stockpile by three times.
Ferkel says residents can contact him about picking up sandbags at his number on the Buffalo city website. They are free to anyone that needs them, and community members can take as many as they need.
Residents can also request to have a truckload of sand dumped in their driveway if they prefer to fill bags themselves.