Houghton Mayor Commends Flood Response Workers

Look no further than the last two weeks and you’ll see what Copper Country Strong means.

Literally, thousands of people have come together to help out their neighbors, many of them suffering from effects of the storm as well.

Donations and volunteers poured in from around the country and continue to do so and the recovery has already moved to the reconstruction phase as most people begin to go back to their normal lives.

The city of Houghton was among the hardest hit areas and Mayor Robert Backon appropriately began Wednesday’s regular city council meeting by thanking all those who made it possible.

“I want to commend the fire department and their leadership, the police department and their leadership. I want to commend all of the volunteers who have worked tirelessly to try and bring our community back some degree of normalcy and I also want to commend Eric (Waara), Doug (Larsen), Ryan (Avendt), and the entire DPW crew for what they have done in the last ten days. The work they have accomplished is miraculous and we all owe them a huge debt of gratitude,” said Backon.

Backon said his comments reflect the work done, not only by those in the city of Houghton, but the surrounding community as a whole.  “It has been just extraordinary, what has taken place in this community over the last ten days and I would say that we’re very thankful the people that have worked trying to repair roads, making sure people have access coming from outside our city limits into our community. It just shows that pulling together we have tried to identify those areas that are in desperate need to be fixed right away and I think they have done a tremendous job,” he said.

His comments were echoed by every member of the city council.