Within hours, hundreds volunteer to help Stillwater prepare for flooding
STILLWATER, Minn. -- Hundreds of people are ready to get their hands dirty to keep their city dry. Sandbagging will start in a few days to prepare for what could be major flooding in Stillwater.
So many people signed up, that the city can't accept any more volunteers.
The National Weather Service says the chance that the St. Croix River reaches "major flood stage" is now above 80 percent.
"I feel bad for the businesses down here if they weren't to do something," business owner, Doug Johnson, said. "I think it's great that everyone's trying to come together to prevent what you can, right?"
Starting at 8 a.m. on Monday, about 300 volunteers will meet in downtown Stillwater to start the process of assembling and putting out thousands of sandbags to protect against any potential flooding.
"We had 275 people step up within I think hours of that being posted," xxx said.
Non-profit group Community Thread put out a call for volunteers. Their executive director called the response heartening.
"People here in this community are very caring and they're willing to go down and roll up their sleeves and get the job done and we're really grateful for that," Executive Director, Sally Anderson, said.
People who live in Stillwater, though, aren't surprised.
"I think that kinda shows the spirit of the area. This area's well known for their neighborly sorts of ways and, unfortunately, sometimes you need these sorts of situations to bring people together," xxx said. "So I think it's great they got 300 volunteers that quickly."
Organizers say they were able to fill every single volunteer shift from Monday to Friday next week. The city says it will let people know if they need more help.
