DAVENPORT, Iowa — While flooding concerns grow for some of our river communities, it seems there's finally light at the end of the tunnel for the Center for Active Seniors (CASI) in Davenport.
About two weeks ago, a pipe burst and caused flooding, forcing the center to close.
"It created a massive amount of water, tens of thousands of gallons of water were coming out from the ceiling," CASI President Laura Kopp said. "It collapsed a portion of the ceiling, it flooded about 50% of the building. And so we were left with that cleanup."
Kopp said that two programs were in session when the pipe burst occurred, prompting an all-hands-on-deck effort from staff to ensure all program participants were safely evacuated.
"I will give a shout-out to our amazing team here at CASI... they helped to safely evacuate everyone from both programs and then really just, quote unquote dove into the deep end and helped us to clean up that water," Kopp said.
Kopp believes the damage would've been more extensive if it weren't for the quick response of CASI staff.
"The CASI staff's quick response is really what prevented us from having as much damage as we could have had. We immediately got our shop vacs out, we had mops out, we had squeegees out and we were really just trying to contain that water as best we could until SERVPRO got here," Kopp said.
The successful clean-up effort means CASI members will be able to return when the center reopens on Wednesday, Jan. 31. The re-opening comes just in time for CASI's 51st birthday celebration, which takes place on Feb. 7.
Kopp said CASI members have been calling the center in anticipation of its reopening.
"We're getting calls every day, 'please tell me your opening. We miss you so much. I didn't realize how much CASI meant to me until I couldn't go there.'" Kopp said.
CASI will be hosting a fundraiser to help remediate some of the costs associated with the damage and restoration. There will be a trivia night held on Thursday, Feb. 22. More information about CASI programs and events can be found on their website.
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