'Just a little island out there': Iowa campground starts recovery after flooding

Twenty-two campsite properties now totaled. Toys, furniture and personal belongings waiting to be hauled away after flooding from the Little Sioux River and the Missouri River took over the campsite in late June. Harrison County Emergency Management said the worst of the flooding occurred at Woodland Campground in Little Sioux, Iowa. "We had about 22 campers here or 22 campsites," Bonnie Castillo, coordinator for Harrison County Emergency Management, said. "And then one home that was impacted just north of us here and then along the Missouri River behind the levee system, all of the crop ground was basically destroyed."On June 24, KETV was at the Woodland Campground as water from the rivers began to breach, but just days later as the rivers crested, resident and safety director, Owen Burgin, said what started as inches turned into nearly five feet of water."I couldn't get to my campground or my camper," Burgin said. "It was totally surrounded. Just a little island out there."The water is now gone, Burgin said, in large part due to the hard work of the campground's maintenance team. "As soon as the water got low enough, our maintenance crew, led by John Foster, did a phenomenal job of setting up relay stations of pumps," Burgin said. However, a clear line drawn in the dirt separated what Burgin said was the dry side from the area devastated by flooding."This water killed everything that it touched," Burgin said. "Our clubhouse had about four or five feet of water in it unfortunately, so right now, ripping all the old drywall installations, that kind of thing. That'll be a major remodel project down there. The roads are our main focus right now. There was a lot of damage on them."Burgin said he knows it could have been worse. No one was injured, and he said the advanced warning from officials allowed many residents to move their campers before the rivers crested. "There's 480 campers in this campground, and we would have lost 70 to 100 of them," Burgin said. "That's 25%. That's, that's major."And now those same officials stepped in to help the campground in recovery."We're working very closely with the state and FEMA, Small Business Administration to see if we qualify for any of those types of assistance," Burgin said. Burgin said the help is invaluable."Through private donations and different things like that with the Red Cross or the Salvation Army, no one had to cook a meal this past weekend," Burgin said. "From the bottom of all of our hearts here, thank you to everybody that has pitched in and helped us."Harrison County Emergency Management said they're now looking to see what improvements may be needed. "Now it's really time to focus on those levee systems just to make sure that they're built back up, they're strengthened," Castillo said. "And if we can extend those throughout Harrison County, we want to make sure that we can find the funding to do that. We are also starting to do an analysis to look at this flood versus 2019 and 2011 just to see if there's areas that we could really look at improving."Burgin said, now, they're focused on the protection of their beloved campground."This is the third time since 2011 that the campground has flooded, and we really feel something needs to be done right now," Burgin said. "If we could just raise this up three foot, put a berm in through here. There's been talk of possibly using, like, a Harsco wall barrier. But, you know, give us something to offer a little bit of protection."Regardless, Burgin said the recovery effort is just beginning, but he knows his community is going to be OK.