Des Moines Y Camp prepares for flooding

BOONE, IOWA — The Des Moines Y Camp is familiar with flooding, with several buildings located on the river. But now all we can do is wait until Thursday to see where the flood line is.

“We’ve had a great response from emergency management and the province has raised some resources. We have plenty of sandbags here. We have filled quite a few and I think we will have enough. And it’s going to sound strange, but we’ve done a lot of work in the last few days, and so the next few days will actually be a bit more of a sit-back-and-watch affair,” said Alex Kretzinger. Camp Executive Director.

The arts and crafts building, dining hall and swimming pool are all at risk of flooding in the coming days. The hope is that if the projections remain where they are, the water will be just a few inches away from the dining hall activities. There are no plans to close the camp during the flood period.

“It is not our intention to close. We have made emergency arrangements, in communication with our water service, to ensure that we have power for food supply, all those kinds of things. And so we’ll continue to monitor those things, but we have no plans to cancel. We really are. I think we have a very flexible team. And so we were able to use some of our other spaces to just move around where we were doing things,” Kretzinger said. “But for the most part, we just want the kids to have a great week and not be affected by the water.”

The water at the campsites is slowly creeping closer to the buildings. Some disc golf holes are flooded and unplayable. The pool is the biggest concern because the kids need a place to stay cool during the hot summer sun.

“Our swimming pool is in a good location, but our technical room is slightly lower. And so we’re trying to make plans to keep that area dry so we can continue to cool the kids off in the pool, especially as the heat rolls in, Kretzinger said.

Campers took part in a new activity this week: painting sandbags that will be used to protect the dining hall. The hope is that the decorative protection won’t need to be used, but projections indicate the paint could wash off those bags Thursday.