Military Veterans Lend a Hand Cleaning Up After Talkeetna Floods

"Team Rubicon" has volunteers from multiple states

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By Lauren Maxwell
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Story Created: Oct 4, 2012 at 5:03 PM AKDT

Story Updated: Oct 4, 2012 at 6:23 PM AKDT

TALKEETNA - It’s been a tough couple of weeks for some residents in Talkeetna who are only now getting a handle on damage done by flooding. But now, some of them are getting help from a group of military veterans whose mission is to lend a helping hand.

Rotting wood and soggy soil are what’s left behind on the ground level of the Tollefsen home, where two weeks ago the basement was filled with four feet of murky water. The family has lived there for 30 years and says they’ve never seen flooding like they experienced in September.

Some of their belongings could be saved but many could not. Removing some of the bigger items like damaged appliances was proving to be an especially tough challenge until Team Rubicon came on the scene.

Team Rubicon is a non-profit organization made up of veterans from different states who respond to disasters around the world. The team in Talkeetna includes volunteers from Washington, Oregon and Alaska. For the last two days they’ve been helping out the Tollefsens with heavy lifting, hauling out damaged items and making frequent trips to the dump.

Team Rubicon plans to stay in the valley for a week helping those who need it. Team leader Jeff Alberts said they could also use volunteers.

For more information you can go to their website at www.teamrubiconusa.org.
 

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Mary Duhamel said on Thursday, Oct 4 at 7:57 PM

Team Rubicon Operations Manager, based in LA, is Mat-Su Valley raised, Andrew Stevens. Stevens graduated from Colony HS before enlisting in the Marine Corps.

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Robert Lawrence said on Friday, Oct 5 at 5:12 AM

That was a really well shot,well written story and great use of nat sound. Nice job!

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Anonymous said on Monday, Oct 8 at 9:08 PM

good keeps them out of mischief...lol...too bad the feds can't do a civilian core to assist towns and the elderly...just a thought..

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