Maurice still dealing with effects of August flood

MAURICE — Reflecting on last month’s historic flood, a family member recently mentioned to Village of Maurice Mayor Wayne Theriot how much of a difference a few hours can make in so many people’s lives.
The two days in the middle August when 24 inches of rain fell on Maurice impacted not only those who live there, but the local government. It is an impact that will be felt for a long time.
“It’s a drastic impact on us,” Theriot said.
For residents of Maurice, 54 homes suffered severe damage. An additional 24 homes were damaged to some lesser degree, receiving around an inch of water.
“Of all of those homes,” Theriot said, “about 15 percent had flood insurance. We’re not considered to be a flood zone. The areas that flooded were never susceptible to flooding. People always said that if it floods here, it’s a tragic situation.
“Well, that’s what happened.”
The residents, including Theriot and his family, are continuing efforts to return home. As for the local government that Theriot helps oversee, it may be looking for a new place to call come.
Walls in Maurice City Hall have been ripped out after a few feet of water invaded the building on Aug. 13. Theriot and other city hall employees are making due in a rented trailer that now sits next door.
“The impact on city hall is drastic,” Theriot said.
The village did not have flood insurance for city hall. Theriot met last week with representatives from FEMA.
“We have to hire an architect to determine the level of damage,” Theriot said. “If it’s more than 50 percent, this whole thing may need to come down. We have to make sure that everything is up to code.”
The rented trailer is used to operate the day-to-day functions of the village. It will not satisfy the needs of mayor’s court or the monthly Board of Aldermen meetings. One of those issues appears to be solved, as the court date for this Tuesday, Sept. 13, will be held at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Maurice. The board meeting scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 21 may take place at the Maurice Volunteer Fire Station.
“We will have to see if they are ready because they took on some water,” Theriot said.
The option of obtaining an additional building remains. That building would be placed in front of city hall. It would serve the needs of the police department, which was flooded, as well as serve as a meeting place.
“I don’t know how we are going to make it work,” Theriot said, “but we are going to make it work.”
Along with the damage to city hall, which destroyed all computers and the communication system, flood waters damaged much of the equipment at the maintenance building, located on the northern part of Maurice.
“We had almost five feet of water in our maintenance facility,” Theriot said. “Every single piece of our equipment was under at least four feet of water. That’s our tractor, our ATV Bobcat, our mowing machines, weed eaters and chainsaws, all under water.
“We will have to purchase replacement equipment.”
Some things damaged may not be as easily replaced. Historical documents dating back to 1949 to today were damaged.
“The good thing is our minutes going back to 1911, our first year, were on a high enough shelf that they were not damaged,” Theriot said. “We have gotten with a restoration company out of Chicago to try to recover as much of those documents as possible.
“That is a costly thing, too, but it is necessary.”
Some positive news came Thursday when President Barack Obama announced that the federal government will increase its share of cost covering from 75 to 90 percent.
“That’s still 10 percent that we would have to cover,” Theriot said Friday morning. “An estimate right now is well over $100,000. I think that is going to increase as we move forward. We will probably have to rent the trailers for six months instead of three. Things like that are going to add to the cost.”
There is no immediate answer to the price tag, or an exact timetable for when things will return to normal. However, Theriot said things will return strong.
“It could take a year,” Theriot said. “We know what is important. We lost material things, and you do suffer from that, but you will overcome that. No one lost a life. Our community has banned together and helped one another.
“We will be stronger for it and we will move forward.”