The Central Florida town of Bartow seems to be in the middle of Mother Nature's bulls-eye this year. Hurricanes Charley, Frances and Jeanne have all passed through this small town on their way through the state. Those storms had not threatened the town's water supply until now. The nearby Peace River has flooded nearly a mile over its banks and that flooding threatened a lift station that forwards contaminated water to the sewage treatment facility for Bartow.
When Bartow city officials saw the crisis coming, they asked the state for help. In response, the state sent eight members of the Florida Air National Guard's 202nd Red Horse Squadron, a civil engineering unit based at Camp Blanding Joint Training Center. Once dispatched, the Airmen began building a hill around the lift station and pump out the water around it.