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In this June 2011 photo, floodwaters from the Souris River surround homes and a backhoe on Third Street N.W. near Minot State University in Minot, N.D. As the river hit its record-shattering peak and began a slow retreat, residents looked ahead to an arduous rebuilding job while continuing to deal with short-term obstacles such as sharing the homes of friends and relatives, traffic tie-ups and an advisory to boil drinking water.
The same water that tested dikes and threatened homes in Brandon last summer, destroyed everything in its path including land, homes and vehicles in Minot, N.D.
A volunteer with the Mennonite Disaster Service helps spray sludge and residue left behind in a home after flood waters receded in Minot, N.D. (SUBMITTED PHOTO)
Subsequently, it destroyed lives as well.
But ever since June 22, 2011, when floodwater began to pour through a breached levee in the city’s flood protection system, local volunteers have flooded the city eager to help out where they can.
"We are doing whatever needs to be done," said Duane Steiner, a volunteer with the Mennonite Disaster Service.
While the eye-catching photos of homes surrounded by water to the eaves have receded, the work needed to restore the community is on going.
"A lot of people think that the work down in Minot is over because they haven’t heard it in the news, but it’s not," Steiner said. "Brandon is about the same size as Minot and we had all our dikes up the same way that they did. We all had five floods and on the fifth flood they lost the battle and the water went over and they lost 4,000 homes."
In the aftermath of the flood, Steiner has recruited more than 100 people to make the three-hour trip south to lace up their work boots, pick up a shovel or hammer and begin to repress the effects the water had on the city.
"At the beginning it looked like a war zone — total chaos with drywall, furnaces and refrigerators strewn all over the place," Steiner said.
He said he still remembers the distinct smell of floodwater mixed with raw sewage the first time he went down to help.
"It stank and the water sat in the heat of summer for two or three months in some places until we got to it," Steiner said. "This time last year we were still pulling wet and soggy books and Cheerios out of peoples’ cupboards."
More than a year later, many families are still displaced from thier homes, living in U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency trailers issued by the government.
But slowly, Steiner and his group of tireless volunteers, who have logged more than 5,000 hours, are getting people back into their homes.
"There are lots of hugs and tears," said Steiner about when the group finished pounding that final nail and the homeowners can finally move back in.
One of the most emotional moments for Steiner was when a four-year-old girl told him that her home had been flooded and burned, and that he was the man that was going to give it back to her.
"The people that we are working for would not be able to rebuild on their own," Steiner said. "Every time we drive down there I always tell everyone when we cross Highway 10 that this water could’ve gotten us and I would hope that if it would have happened in Brandon and those dikes didn’t hold that someone would have come in and helped us."
And for Steiner that’s what it is all about, for the only thing stronger than the eight feet of water that ravaged Minot is the resolve of the thousands of people that have come together to make a difference.
"It’s people helping people," Steiner said.
Anyone wishing to volunteer to help with the rebuild can call 1-866-261-1274
» ctweed@brandonsun.com
Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition October 29, 2012
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The same water that tested dikes and threatened homes in Brandon last summer, destroyed everything in its path including land, homes and vehicles in Minot, N.D.
Subsequently, it destroyed lives as well.
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The same water that tested dikes and threatened homes in Brandon last summer, destroyed everything in its path including land, homes and vehicles in Minot, N.D.
Subsequently, it destroyed lives as well.
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