Niobrara Valley Hospital ER in service without water

It's been one week since the floodwaters ravaged communities along the Niobrara River.

Lynch is just one of many communities in northeastern Nebraska that are still reeling from the impacts of the historic flood.

For the past week, the ag community of 200 has had no running water, but what’s even more mind-boggling is the community is home to the only hospital in the county.

"We have had to close down the hospital itself to inpatient care because we can’t properly care for them and cook for them and bathe anything like that , so we are just running the ER right now," said Registered Nurse April Micanek. "We’ve never had to evacuate patients before and figured out that the flood water was coming up high enough that we had to evacuate."

Micanek says thankfully the Spencer Dam had not collapsed yet, and they were able to transport patients to the O'Neill Hospital.

"At that point, the ambulance had to drive through water to get our patients over there," Micanek said. "You can look at someone else and see that they are having a more difficult time than you are, so there is blessings in it too."

The good news is the water is starting to recede, but the long road to recovery is just beginning.

Officials say it could be another three to four weeks before water is restored to the community.