Behind-the-scenes works salvages 350,000 pieces of mail after truck crashes into river
Iowan lauds postal workers for salvaging water-damaged letters
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U.S. postal workers have salvaged several hundred thousand pieces of mail from this semitrailer that was submerged. / Andrea Melendez/Register File Photo
Snow, rain and heat can’t stop the U.S. Postal Service. Evidently flooding and a submerged semi can’t either.
The story begins when a semitrailer carrying U.S. mail plunged into the rain-swollen Prairie Creek near Des Moines on May 30. The three law enforcement officers who rescued 70-year-old driver Dwayne Michael of Granger from the flooded cab were lauded statewide for their heroism.
But there are other heroes in this story, said Jeanine Strodtman. The Ames resident received a water-damaged piece of mail from her grandson in early June, one of several hundred thousand that were cleaned, dried and sent on their way by postal workers after the accident. “I just thought they ought to get a little recognition for doing a lot of extra work,” Strodtman said.
Richard Watkins, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service’s Des Moines-based Hawkeye District, said workers at the Des Moines Processing and Distribution Center spent an entire weekend salvaging more than 350,000 first-class letters.
“We knew we had to dry it out as much as possible because we can’t take wet mail and put it into someone’s mailbox,” Watkins said.
Watkins was unsure of how much mail was damaged because some commercial mail, like Netflix discs, was sent back to the businesses.
Strodtman’s grandson had given her a check for a portrait she painted of his wife, but Strodtman told him the amount was too much. She had been eagerly awaiting a new check for a smaller amount to come in the mail. “It didn’t come and didn’t come, and then it came in a large U.S. Postal Service envelope,” Strodtman said. “I could see a letter inside. It was a letter of explanation.”
Customers affected by the delay received a letter explaining and apologizing for the delay packaged in a USPS “We Care” envelope or clear plastic bag with the original piece of mail that had been sent to them.
“Our employees are the best in the world at overcoming obstacles,” Watkins said. “Many times our employees are the first sign of routine life — getting mail through to customers despite natural disasters. We take personal responsibility to make sure people get that mail.”
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