Pandora man takes on Mother Nature

PANDORA - Last August, the massive flooding in the area took its toll on Don Martin's home. He's been plotting revenge ever since.

Earlier this year, Martin began building his own levee on the property of his Pandora home. After months of labor, the work is nearly done.

"Last summer wasn't the first time we had water in our home," Martin said. "We thought about it and thought about it, trying to decide what we could do to prevent it from happening again. Now, we're doing it."

Martin and his wife, Ilo, said they hoped a levee would stop water from entering their basement this summer, should waters rise again. Martin said that the interior of their basement took the brunt of the damage.

"At our age, the cleanup process is getting to be too difficult," Martin said. "We needed something that would work better."

Though the thought of building a personal levee might seem daunting to some, the task seemed manageable to Martin.

"Well, we built our own house in 1955," he said, "and we've been building ever since."

Nearly 15 loads of dirt, five to six loads of concrete, and several loads of stone went into the construction of the levee.

"I didn't really keep track," Martin said. "I ordered it when I needed it, I paid the bill, and I tried not worry about it. I guess you just do what you think you have to do."

Although some help was offered when materials were being hauled in, Martin has taken on the majority of the task by himself. Setting out without a real blueprint of exact dimensions, Martin said that he just decided to go with what worked with the lay of the land.

"How it works? It's to keep the water out," he said. "That's pretty simple. It's just like buying an insurance policy - you get it because you need it and hope you never need it."

Martin said that the biggest challenge in building the levee has been the amount of rain Putnam County has seen this season.

"I worked on it when I could - when I had time and when the weather would let me," he said. "The rain hasn't been very cooperative around here."

Although there was never a doubt in Martin's and his wife's mind about what action needed to be taken, plenty of others offered their opinions.

"Well, at first, people just thought I was nuts," Martin said. "They didn't understand why or what I was doing until they came down here and took a look at it themselves."

Ilo said that now several people have stopped to tell them that it looks nice and that they can see how Martin's efforts make sense.

Now that the levee is nearly finished, Martin hopes that it won't be of need this summer. He said he would like more time for the dirt to settle in before it has to keep any floodwaters out of their home.

"The thing about high water is that you never know how high it's actually going to be," he said, "and it's usually higher than anticipated. I can't control the floodwaters - but hopefully this can."