“It’s way more than bags for me”: Illinois inmates bag thousands of sandbags for flood victims

Jun 10, 2019 at 10:44 AM CST
DUQUOIN, IL – People are trying to get ahead of the rising Mississippi River by making thousands of sandbags. Governor J.B. Pritzker issued a state disaster proclamation one month ago for 34 Illinois counties. Multiple state agencies are still working side by side to save river communities up and down the Mississippi. Thousands of those sandbags lay in the front yard of DuQuoin Impact Incarceration. The Illinois Department of Transportation is waiting to deliver them to river counties affected by flooding. Keith Miley, the operations engineer of IDOT in Southern Illinois, says they can’t get behind on sandbags. “We have delivered over 100 thousand sandbags since last Saturday,” Miley said, “so we get large orders for bags.” They’re now using an automatic sandbagger from the Army Corps of Engineers from St. Louis. The men manually bagged 50 thousand sandbags since Sunday. They’re goal for this Saturday is 20 thousand sandbags.

Jun 10, 2019 at 10:44 AM CST

DUQUOIN, IL – People are trying to get ahead of the rising Mississippi River by making thousands of sandbags. Governor J.B. Pritzker issued a state disaster proclamation one month ago for 34 Illinois counties. Multiple state agencies are still working side by side to save river communities up and down the Mississippi. Thousands of those sandbags lay in the front yard of DuQuoin Impact Incarceration. The Illinois Department of Transportation is waiting to deliver them to river counties affected by flooding. Keith Miley, the operations engineer of IDOT in Southern Illinois, says they can’t get behind on sandbags. “We have delivered over 100 thousand sandbags since last Saturday,” Miley said, “so we get large orders for bags.” They’re now using an automatic sandbagger from the Army Corps of Engineers from St. Louis. The men manually bagged 50 thousand sandbags since Sunday. They’re goal for this Saturday is 20 thousand sandbags.