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Sylvester-Johnsons: Flood Recovery

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From the Reverend Eric Long, rector of St. John's Episcopal Church, Roanoke, Va.:

"Last week's flash flood caught many of us off guard. For most of us, this event proved to mostly be an inconvenience. However, some have flooded basements and even worse.

One family that suffered far worse was Anders and Stephanie Sylvester-Johnson, who had significant flooding in their home (around 220 and Yellow Mountain Road). The basement remains full of water and the first floor of the home has silt and water damage from where the water flooded that area as well."

Parishioners and others have been helping salvage what is possible. 

The house itself is unsalvageable, and there is no flood insurance. An update from Anders yesterday:

"I cannot begin to thank all of our church family, Carilion family, and extended children’s families for your help today. We learned some important lessons. You cannot fight moving water. But you can go with the flow. For now we have stopped trying to save the house and started to completely evacuate all the salvageable goods, from the second floor. Very little on the first floor made it, due to water damage.

"Unfortunately our garage collapsed today, two days following the flood.

"We have loaded about half of a box truck and still have another half to go.

"As was appropriate at the time, we utilized a little over half our day trying to pump water out of the house, find leaks in the foundation, and determine where water was coming from. This included some heroic strong arm attempts at redirecting flow away from the house by hand. 'There are some strict laws that apply to using machinery in the actual stream or river.' Despite these efforts water continues to flow into the house almost as quickly as it can be pumped out."

Whatever you can contribute to help this family is much appreciated.
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Donations 

  • Anonymous
    • $10,000 
    • 5 yrs
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Fundraising team: St John Episcopal (2)

Cara Ellen Modisett
Organizer
Raised $11,460 from 16 donations
Roanoke, VA
Gustaf Sylvester-Johnson
Beneficiary
Eric Long
Team member
Raised $3,600 from 11 donations
This team raised $1,235 from 14 other donations.

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