For immediate release: Ozaukee Press – September 5, 2018
After heavy extended rains (about 7.5 inches) on Sunday night and early Monday morning, August 27th, a substantial portion of the facility at Our Savior Lutheran Church & School was invaded by a flash flood. The lowest part of the church (Fellowship Hall, Classroom, Library, and Kitchen) received extensive water damage due to the nearly two feet of standing water. Many rooms, including furnace rooms, storage areas, and stairwell were also flooded.
“Some of our precious items were spared,” said Pastor Mark Wagner, “like our sanctuary art that was stored downstairs and submerged.” “But,” he added, “we had to remove all the drywall up to 32 inches in all areas, most of the cabinets, many book shelves. An estimated 13,000 books from the school library were lost. Unfortunately, we’ve lost all six furnaces, a stove and refrigerator along with some new textbooks.”
Within a couple hours, the water had subsided and volunteers began to to pile whatever was soaked outside. Dave Klug from Don Klug, Inc supplied a large loader to crush wet cabinets and deposit them, along with desks, shelves and wet books into a dumpster. At the time of this writing, it is still unclear if there will be any insurance coverage, but the facility is dry and ready for cleaning and rebuilding.
Staff Minister Tom Hering stated, “We are grateful to the Lord for the many friends in our community and members of our congregation and school that went above and beyond to help in the immediate relief effort following our water intrusion and damage!” Principal Joel Grulke echoed that thought, “Thank you for the many prayers and expressions of loving support that we have received! We are grateful that we were able to do some immediate shifting and readjusting, even as the flood waters were barely gone, to keep our school functioning through this challenging time.”
For further information or to volunteer, contact the church office at 262-377- 6363 or via email.
