U-Haul Companies of Montana and Idaho are offering 30 days of free self-storage and U-Box® container usage at two facilities near Yellowstone National Park to help people affected by extreme flooding in the area.
U-Haul Companies of Montana and Idaho are offering 30 days of free self-storage and U-Box® container usage at two facilities near Yellowstone National Park to help people affected by extreme flooding in the area.
Impacted by the Yellowstone flooding? U-Haul is offering you a free storage unit.
The U-Haul Companies of Montana and Idaho are offering 30 days of free self-storage and U-Box container usage at two facilities near Yellowstone National Park to help people affected by extreme flooding in the area.
“Accessibility to local storage units can play a small part in the recovery process,” according to a U-Haul press release announcing the free containers. “Some 10,000 people have been evacuated from the park, and many homes nearby have sustained water damage.”
This isn’t the first time U-Haul has pitched in during natural disasters.
According to Andrew Batchelor, the Public Relations Specialist at U-Haul, the company has been partnering with the Red Cross since 2016.
“This is something we do fairly often, offering free storage units,” Batchelor said. “We have a disaster relief program where we work closely with Red Cross as a disaster responder. We’ve helped during hurricanes, floods, tornado recovery, fires ... because we have such a big network of storage units, we’re able to assist those communities. We have more than 23,000 locations in all 50 states and Canadian provinces.”
The system is “trust-based,” Batchelor said. U-Haul isn’t making people prove that they’re victims.
Park officials said Friday that water levels remain high but have gone down substantially over the past 24 hours.
“We see the need for this kind of stuff,” Batchelor said. “Disasters create an immediate need for assistance, a clean, dry place to keep your belongings.”
Other touching recovery efforts have included Boy Scouts setting up in Gardiner to hand out food and people sharing job opportunities for displaced workers on Facebook. One car rental agency offered a free stay in Bozeman to a Florida family of 14.
People in Gardiner have been offering to pick stuff up for others, from prescriptions to puppy formula. Neighbors are helping neighbors fill up water jugs from a private well in Jardine due to the boil order on the public water system.
“We needed some place to park our campers for a couple of days and put it out on a local Facebook page,” Kami Wilson Long said via Facebook after her group of 17 was evacuated. “This nice Rexburg family said we could park at his place no charge. He was even willing to meet us and help in any way possible no matter what time it was. He even texted us to see if he could do anything else for us.”
Yellowstone continues major flood recovery efforts in the north while repairing damage and preparing for reopening in the south.
All five park entrances remain closed temporarily, however, West, South, and East entrances are targeted for reopening as early as next week.
Contact Kate Ready at 732-7076 or kready@jhnewsandguide.com.
Kate Ready covers criminal justice and emergency news. Originally from Denver, Kate studied English Literature at UC Berkeley and is excited to bring her love for the mountains and storytelling to Jackson.
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