Removal of sandbags from atop Hannibal’s levee to begin this week

Free to a good home ... sandbags. Lots of them.
John Hark, emergency management director for the city of Hannibal, announced Tuesday morning that the process of removing sandbags from atop the city’s levee will begin this week.
“I see that happening this week and then we’ll just continue working on it as weather and time permits,” he said.
The task of removing the sandbags will fall to city employees, at least initially.
“We’ll have to be doing it during working days when my guys are there with the loaders. We don’t want (people) to walk up and down that levee carrying sandbags,” said Hark. “If we get a group that has a number of people that all want to work together at one time then we would definitely welcome that and coordinate that.”
Any group interested in helping remove sandbags should contact city hall, according to Hark.
While the sandbags will be available to the public at no charge, Hark does not want people going on top of the levee to take the sandbags they might want.
“The main reason for that is for the safety of people,” he said. “If somebody gets a sandbag and starts to walk off the levee with it, slips and falls, they could hurt themselves. We do not want that.”
Most of the sandbags will be taken to the city lot (Seventh Street and Warren Barrett Drive) where they will be available. Anyone taking sandbags must use them in accordance with state guidelines, according to Hark.
“They can’t use them for kids’ sand boxes or anything like that,” he said. “We do not want somebody to put them along their creek bank and throw water over on their neighbor. That’s not what they’re to be used for. They can be used for fill and for mixing concrete, that type of thing.
“If they empty the bags they have to dispose of the bags properly. We don’t want to have sandbags strung all over the city.”
Does Hark anticipate many people taking advantage of the free sandbags?
“I’ve had a lot of requests for them. People have a hole here or hole there that they would like to dump sand into and fill the hole,” he said. “It’s going to be interesting to see. The city has certain city ordinances and there are DNR guidelines, and they’re going to have to abide by them if they take them.”
Hark does not believe the city will have to dispose of too many sandbags.
“I don’t think it will be that bad because we have numerous places where we can use them as fill ourself,” he said.
Hark is anxious to have the sandbags removed “so I can get the Corps in here to get a levee inspection and see if we’ve got any damage and what repairs are going to have to be made to the levee.”
Any households or businesses wishing to dispose of sandbags used during the flood may being them to the city’s Seventh Street lot.