News : Self-Serve Sandbagging: City, County offer sites

Due to the rising Cedar River and local creeks with the prospect of more rain later today, the City of Vinton is stepping up local efforts to prepare for flooding. Later this morning, city officials will be evaluating and preparing to install HESCO barriers around the Vinton Fire Department and Vinton Municipal Electric Utility, should that become necessary. In the meantime, a self-serve sandbag station has been established at the Vinton Street Department on the 900 block of West Third Street in Vinton.

Vinton City Coordinator Andy Lent says anyone from the Vinton area is welcome to make use of the station, but must bring their own equipment (i.e. shovels) and labor to fill the sandbags. City crews will be concentrating their efforts on preparing the barriers to protect the city facilities from any potential flooding.

A separate site for county residents has been set up at the Benton County Secondary Roads/County Engineer's office at 1707 W First Street. Only sand is provided; residents must provide their own equipment and labor.