AN UPDATE: From a recent KeLO story:
Clean Up Continues At Lake Poinsett
By Hailey Higgins
Published: July 24, 2011, 9:51 PM
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http://www.keloland.com/NewsDetail6162.cfm?id=118589
LAKE POINSETT, SD - Four months since flooding began at Lake Poinsett property owners are still trying to clean up what record-high waters left behind.
While water levels are slowly dropping for many, the work is just beginning.
The high water mark is still visible on the north shore of Lake Poinsett. Some properties remain under water.
Months into the flood fight, sandbags are deteriorating. And while most homeowners aren't battling the water anymore, they're facing a new fight.
"Everything was covered with mold," David Sogn said. "And the flood insurance doesn't cover mold."
A foot of water stood in Sogn's home for months and it's destroyed nearly everything.
"The waves bashed the doors in, knocked them down," Sogn said. "There were crawdads in here and just mud. The carpet was just soaked with mud."
Sogn plans to lift his vacation home 16 inches to prevent future flooding. But to do that, he's ripping out the floors and the walls and leaving just the frame.
"It's kind of depressing," Sogn said. "Just a few years ago I put in all new carpet and new cabinets and did quite a bit of work to it and then (I have to) drag it all out and throw it in the dumpster."
In the meantime, Sogn is forced to live in this trailer while mold lines the walls in his house as the lake slowly sinks back.
"The floor joists are just full of water," Sogn said. "When I pried these out, water squirted out of the floor joists."
But at least he's still got a fighting chance. Neighbors say the owner of this home abandoned it. But for Sogn, that isn't an option.
And as he tears out the floor of his home, he just hopes the ground underneath is dry enough to support the dozen jacks that will raise it up to new heights.
Because of the amount of insurance claims at Lake Poinsett, many homeowners say their paperwork is still not completed with insurance companies. Many don't know how much of their losses will be reimbursed.
