The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office along with the Hamilton County Probation Dept. combined resources to assist the Hamilton County Emergency Management Agency last Saturday and provided an inmate work crew to fill sandbags which will be handed out to citizens during high water and flood situations.

The recent flooding conditions in Hamilton County depleted the stockpile maintained by the EMA. Sheriff Mark Bowen said he is committed to using inmate work crews to aid the community and reduce costs to the county when possible.

Over the course of 5 ½ hours, 1,800 sandbags were filled by the team, which was led by Deputy Director Carl Erickson.

“The numbers of bags produced were the most ever in a 5 ½-hour period,” Erickson said. “The only reason the event was so successful was due to the coordination and communication among county departments and agencies.”

The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Dept. Jail Division supplied inmates; the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Dept. provided reserve deputies and lunch for the entire crew; the Hamilton County Probation Dept. supplied the probationers; and both divisions supplied the staff to supervise them. Hamilton Household Hazardous Waste supplied the team with a front end loader and an operator to load the sand into the bagging machine and the Hamilton County Highway Dept. supplied sand.

When a flood statement has been issued by the National Weather Service (Flood Advisory, Flood Watch or Flood Warning), sandbags may be obtained by calling the EMA office at 770-3381.