By Craig Scott, Director of Gadsden Public Library
In my last column, I shared the story of the devastating flood that struck the Gadsden Public Library on Aug. 31. I described the shock of walking into our beautiful library that Monday morning and finding much of the first floor and the entire basement under water.
Today, I want to tell you another story. It’s a story about people. About teamwork, generosity, professionalism and a community that didn’t hesitate to come to our rescue.
When the waters rose at the Gadsden Public Library, Gadsden rose with us.
It all began with our Circulation Manager, Amy McCary, who was the first to arrive that Monday morning. Amy called me at home in tears to report that water was everywhere. I arrived approximately ten minutes later and immediately contacted Terry “TR” Rinault, the city’s maintenance manager.
Without hesitation, TR dispatched two members of his crew, who quickly located and shut off the library’s main water supply. He then contacted Dallas Plumbing, whose technicians arrived almost immediately. By 9 a.m., they had replaced the rusted water hammer arrestor that had caused the flood, and our water service was restored.
While all of this was happening, our library employees were arriving for what would become anything but an ordinary Monday morning. Jackie Ash, Carol Wright, Melissa Melisano, Jacob Blackwood, Gelaine Kelley, Tallulah Cash, Caitlin Wass and LaShunda Williams joined Amy and me as we began moving furniture, equipment and other materials away from the flooded areas.
Nobody complained. Nobody asked whose responsibility it was. Everyone simply rolled up their sleeves and went to work.
Then the professionals arrived.
Zack Lancaster and Chris Kerzic, managers with ProClean Services of Rainbow City, quickly assessed the situation and called in what I can only describe as an army. Before long, their crews were everywhere, operating powerful water vacuums, moving equipment and beginning the enormous task of drying out our building.
And what a task it was!
Humidity levels inside the library had climbed into the high 80s and even the 90s. Thanks to ProClean’s industrial fans, dehumidifiers and around-the-clock drying efforts, those levels eventually dropped into the mid-30s to low-40s range. Their extraordinary work helped protect our building and, most importantly, our irreplaceable collection of books.
In fact, despite the severity of the flooding, not a single book in our primary collections was damaged. For a library director, that’s about as close to a miracle as you can get!
Meanwhile, the City of Gadsden continued to stand beside us. Tena King and Stacey Spurling, representing Mayor Craig Ford and the city’s risk management office, arrived quickly to help assess the damage and coordinate the City’s response. Opie Teague, another member of the city’s maintenance department, helped evaluate the electrical situation, particularly in our flooded basement.
I cannot adequately express my appreciation for TR, his maintenance crew and everyone who responded so quickly. Their knowledge, experience and willingness to help made an enormous difference during those first critical hours.
And I certainly cannot overlook our library patrons.
When we made the difficult decision to close the library immediately and remain closed for the following week, our patrons responded with remarkable patience and understanding. Rather than complaints, we received encouragement and expressions of concern. Your support reminded our staff that the library is truly part of the fabric of this community.
On Tuesday, Sept. 8, just over a week after the disaster, we reopened our doors.
Were we back to normal? Not even close!
Major sections of the building remained cordoned off. Damaged furniture, drywall and other materials still needed to be removed or replaced. Our circulation department was operating from a temporary front desk, and our employees were adjusting to a workplace that looked considerably different from the one they had known just days earlier.
But our doors were open, our patrons were returning and our library was once again serving Gadsden.
So where do we stand today?
Two adjusters from Travelers Insurance have now visited the library and completed their assessments of our property and contents losses. We are awaiting final approval of our insurance claims so that the rebuilding process can begin.
Realistically, we anticipate it may be another 60 days before everything is back to normal. Naturally, we’re hoping for sooner!
In the meantime, our temporary front desk is fully operational, and our main adult collections — including fiction, nonfiction, biographies and large-print materials — are available for checkout. Our wonderful Beautiful Rainbow Cafe is also operating its regular hours.
There is still plenty of work ahead, but we have come an extraordinary distance from that frightening Monday morning.
As I look back on everything that happened, one thing stands out above all else. Buildings can be repaired. Furniture can be replaced. Walls can be rebuilt. But the kindness, dedication and generosity shown by the people of Gadsden are priceless.
To our City employees, our library staff, Dallas Plumbing, ProClean Services, Mayor Ford and his administration, and every patron who offered an encouraging word: thank you.
You helped us turn a disaster into a remarkable demonstration of community spirit.
And when the last piece of drywall has been replaced, the final piece of furniture has been moved back into place and our library looks like itself again, I suspect we will remember something far more important than the floodwaters.
We will remember the people who stood beside us.
When the waters rose, Gadsden rose with us. And for that, I will always be grateful.
- Gadsden Public Library: 254 South College Street, downtown Gadsden (next to the U.S. Post Office). Phone: 256-549-4699
- Genealogy Branch: 2700 West Meighan Boulevard, Alabama City (next to the Ritz Theater at the corner of West Meighan and Wall Street). Phone: 256-549-4688
