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Southern Illinois Family Devastated by Flooding, Memories Washed Away

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Southern Illinois Family Devastated by Flooding, Memories Washed Away

One of those residents, Jami Lane, says it’s a week later and her family is still trying to process what happened.

NASHVILLE, Ill. (WSIL)-- One week ago, severe flooding turned Nashville, Illinois, into a temporary island. Since then, nearly 70 homeowners have reported flood damage.

One of those residents, Jami Lane, says it’s a week later and her family is still trying to process what happened.

“It was rushing through the house, and it was really traumatic for them, my 6-year-old, for several days after,� Lane said.

Lane says they had to clean out the entire first floor. 

“I keep saying we're all here, it's just stuff, and we love each other and that's all that matters,� Lane said. 

Lane says she may have to gut her home, forcing her family to stay in a camper outside of town.

“They said what was supposed to happen, happened; and it worked the way it should. But, if that's the case, should houses really be affected like this?� Lane asked.

But Lane says last week’s flooding doesn’t even come close to the pain she experienced In 2015. That’s when her daughter Sierra Wilder passed away in a plane crash with some of her husband's family.

Daughter Sierra Wilder passed  away in 2015 plane crash

Daughter Sierra Wilder passed  away in 2015 plane crash

“Even this devastation is doable, but that one you don't ever recover from,� Lane said.

Lane says to make matters worse, the flooding swept away many of her daughter’s belongings.

Sierra Wilder

Photo of Sierra Wilder

“Whenever I took apart her room, I thought to put it in tubs, and save it until I had the strength to go through it,� Lane says. “And so that's all gone. School work, paperwork, drawings, pictures, it's pretty much in a tub drenched with water.�

Lane says since the flooding happened, her neighbors have been there to help. They are all waiting to see if organizations like the Red Cross can help as well.

Matthew Bierman is the director with the Washington County Emergency Management Agency. He says help is getting harder to find.

“What we're running into is a lot of these organizations, they are so spread thin because of all the disasters that have been happening; their volunteers are either worn out or just coming back from deployment,� Bierman said.

He says they are reaching out to see how they can get more help, but they will most likely not get FEMA assistance.

“It takes a lot of money to get that opened up. So what we hope for is to get SBA, which is a small business association, which is what we did for the storm last year,� Beirman says.  “They came in with extremely low-interest loans stretched out over 30 years.�

Even after all of this, Lane says she is still worried about living near the dam, but she says she has to keep going to get their home back to normal.