I'm starting this post today, June 22, 2011, to chronicle the events of our situation with the Flood Fight of 2011. I want to keep a record of the information we are receiving from Canada and the newsmen, of what we have done to prepare, photographs to document that as proof, to track the level of the river, the timing of things, evacuation orders, and other important information. This will be an ongoing post, and I will fill in the information from before today as I remember or get documentation from the news sources. So if you are interested in what going on, check back here. I will eventually get links to photos as I get myself organized. It's amazing the amount of information to get up here and how much detail I have already forgotten. What a whirlwind. Here we go!
-5/31/11 Tuesday
-CLOSING DAY! We are new homeowners as of 9:30 am. We closed on the sale of our condo and on the buying of our new house back to back
-We applied early for flood insurance and set it up to take effect at closing
-a couple hours after closing we get news reports that the river would not be able to handle the amount of water expected-which was 1 to 2 feet above the current dike level
-evacuation was going to be necessary for those in the evacuation zones by Wednesday evening, we are in zone one
-We moved everything in from the garage to the main floor, nothing is in the basement except the washer and dryer, elliptical machine, and foosball table (as well as furnace and water heater)
-luckily we haven't had time to unpack much so it's all still in boxes
-We took out important papers and documents as well as scrap books and electronics and stored them at the Kelly's
6/1/11 Wednesday
-We went back and took out other important belongings such as irreplaceable games, books, etc
-the rain we've been receiving is making it impossible to build up the primary dikes, secondary dikes are announced and begun
-one of the first secondary dikes begun is the one on 16th St. right in front of our house, blocking us in against the river
-We went back and put our furniture up on buckets and moved things as high up as possible, took some more things out
-We put sandbags around our window wells, on the garage doors, and around the electrical panels in the back
-evacuation time moved from 10 pm to 6 pm
-packed short term bags, turned off the power and water, headed over to Grandma Kelly's to evacuate
week of 6/2/11 through 6/9/11
-Fret, fret, worry, worry, watch the river, hang out at Grandma's
-the secondary dike work was abandoned once the primary dikes dried a bit so work resumed on those
-there was an opening at the end of our street so we could get into the house to check on things, take additional belongings out
-Apple Grove area flooded
-the crest predictions suddenly dropped, the river never went over it's banks
-when the river got down to 1551.5 the Mayor allowed people to move back into their homes, but advised them to move in "lite" in case another evacuation became necessary
week of 6/10/11 through 6/19/11
-We left important document and most other things at Grandma's, but did go home and made the beds, shopped for food, watched the river stay in its banks
6/20/11 Monday
-City officials announce that the dikes are not going to hold the amounts of water coming
-Work on building up the dikes is abandoned
-Work begins on secondary dikes around the city infrastructure such as city hall, schools, the water treatment plant, the university, and dikes to keep Broadway open
-citizens in Minot and surrounding area are asked to conserve water, one of the aquifers will be shutting down due to issues as well as flood water
-all of Minot is advised to plug all basement drains due to sewer overloading and possibilities of backup
-We moved all belongings except kitchen and bathroom items out
6/21/11 Tuesday
-We moved the kitchen and bathroom items as well as the blinds and all other belongings out, house is empty
-furnace, water heater, carpet, fridge, stove remain
-Window wells are sandbagged, front door and front garage door and sliding glass door are sandbagged
-basement floor drain is plugged
-electricty and water are turned off, MDU will cut natural gas on their own
6/22/11 Wednesday
-cracked basement windows open to allow water in, in order to prevent pressure damage to the foundation
-removed fridge and stove from the house
-11:00 am Minot river level is 1555.36
-12:00 pm Burlington evacuation sirens sound, all evacuees are out, the water has breached the dikes
-12:57 pm Minot sirens sound, evacuate immediately, water is staring to overtop the dikes in some areas
-about 1:10 pm officials announce 3rd St. bridge will be closing (hoped to keep that one open-the north/sound routes available will be Broadway and the Bypass
-3:00 pm Minot river level is
-around 5:00 pm giant rubber bladder tubes are placed as dikes along the bypass
-5:00 pm Minot river level is 1555.50
-5:30 press conference announced the crest should be around June 26th at a level of 1562-1563, 2-3 days earlier than previously anticipated, still 7 feet to go before the crest
-7:00 pm 16th St. is closed
-There are 500 National Guardsmen in Minot at this time
6/23/11 Thursday
-Minot river level is 1555.65
-about 1:15 Broadway is temporarily closed between University Avenue and Burdick Expwy to allow trucks free access to building the dikes, water is coming faster and deeper from Canada, expected crest now 1566.
-all citizens in the river valley are asked to evacuate voluntarily (not mandatory) due to higher crest predictions
-Bypass is temporarily closed to allow trucks to work, this cuts off all north/south travel in Minot essentially cutting the city in half for now
-by morning there will be 750 guardsmen in Ward County
-Presidential Declaration of a Major Disaster for ND has been made
-3rd St. bridge is open for now, will close tomorrow for diking
-Gauge says 1555.67 but it isn't changing much because it is spreading outward
-We are expecting "double the water" of the 1969 flood
-All state employees are allowed to leave work to help with the flood fight no matter where they live
6/24/11 Friday
-6:00 am Minot river level 1556.35 and spreading
-12:00 pm Minot river level 1558.52 (all time high was 1558.0 in 1881)
-in the last 24 hours the river has gone up 3 ft. we expect another 4-5 ft in the next 24 hours
-4:00 pm Minot river level 1559.57
-the road is wet at Dairy Queen, two blocks from Elizabeth's house
-there were four water rescues on Thursday
-there are 10-12,000 people displaced but only about 300 in the shelters
-Hwy 2 is closed between Minot and Towner
-Hwy 52 westbound lane from Sawyer is closed
-Hwy 41 closing in Velva for levee construction
-3rd St. bridge closed (use the bypass!)
-Senator Conrad says obtaining individual FEMA assistance is "critically important"
-Senator Conrad says keeping Broadway open is a "key priority"
-Senator Conrad says the White House is "fully committed to a full federal response"
-Mayor Zimbelman estimates 4000 homes damaged by Friday night
-Senator Hoeven says congressional delegation's priority is to get FEMA to make individual assitance available so temporary housing can be obtained for displaced residents
-10:00 Minot river level is 1561.0
6/25/11 Saturday
-8:00 am Minot river level is 1561.51, two feet to go before expected crest (1563.5)
-3:00 pm Minot river level is 1561.59
-NEW CREST INFO: expected crest sometime tonight at a new lower level 1561.8!!!
-possible water contamination, some river water got into the system untreated, boil order issued
-Harley's and the Grandstand are still good, but several dikes have failed
-Ramstad and Longfellow schools flooded
-Perkett school's (Chelsea's school in another year) dikes are eroding, working to reinforce (blackhawk helicopter bringing in 1-ton sandbags from the air
-first floor of Holiday Inn flooded
-Arrowhead dikes insufficient, now flooded
-thunderstorms around the state, we had an unnofficial? tornado warning, (I was at work at walmart and they had a code black where all the customers had to go to the center of the store-I don't think the national weather service issued a warning, but I heard there was a funnel cloud in the area)
6/26/11 Sunday
-2:00 and 3:00 am CREST! 1561.72
-We are just waiting now for the river to go down. Lake Darling is still very full, they are contemplating keeping the releases high now in order to drop the level of the lake but they won't release enough to raise the level of the river here, we don't want a repeat of this flood especially now that the integrity of the dikes (old and new) have been compromised and changed
-5:00 pm Minot river level 1561.55
-From what we can tell looking at houses near our area (no ability to see our house at this point) we estimate our water to be at least half way up on the main floor, possibly higher but we have no way of knowing without a visual
-Update from last comment: We finally saw a photo that was taken by KX News. Our house has water up past the eaves of the roof, worse than we hoped, but not surprising or shocking
6/27/11 Monday
-6 am Minot river level 1561.30
-12:40 pm Announcement of several water main breaks, system will lose pressure, may not be able to restore soon, ration water immediately
-4:00 pm 1561.18
-water releases from Lake Darling will be reduced by 1000 cfs (cubic feet per second) each day for two weeks. By the end of the two weeks the river should be back in its channel granted there is no heavy rain
-(as a general fyi, 8,000 cfs is a pretty significant flow from Darling, they upped the releases all the way up to 29,000 during this flood which is WAY more than we can handle, obviously)
-Rick and I met with a FEMA representative (Dan) to verify our identities and address from our online application, start paperwork process, got instruction on when to call for our inspection (when the water is gone from our lowest level)
-went to a free dinner for evacuees at the Maysa arena, many people are storing items there and/or camping on the grounds
6/28/11 Tuesday
-12:00 midnight Minot river level 1560. 90
-7:00 am Minot river level 1560.66
-Beth continues her fight with the sewage leak in her basement, today they are removing the carpet from affected areas, the pressure seems to be going down as the river slowly recedes, shop vacs are quite handy
-even though many places are diked off and dry, there are still problems with the sewer system and water system around town
-many many houses/businesses have been dealing with ground water seepage for weeks if not months
-Rick is working basically on an on-call basis, I am working as usual being only two minutes away from work and not having to deal with crossing town (two or more hour commute now) like many folk. This is fortunate. I may even take on a few extra shifts. We still have mortgage to pay (our first payment is due July 1st) even though we don't have to worry about utilities and other services at this point.
-We continue to conserve water by showering less, flushing only if absolutely necessary, not running the water in the house, no watering or sprinklers in the yard, rewearing clothes to limit laundry
-boiling order still in effect, we can't consume our limited tap water yet, but at least we haven't lost water pressure
-our phone and electricity are still good here at Grandma's
-Gov. Jack Dalrymple has invited President Barack Obama to tour the flood devastation in North Dakota, Obama says he will consider it
-There is talk that some of the houses won't be allowed to be rebuilt in their current location
6/29/11 Wednesday
-9:00 am Minot river level 1560.17
-4100 houses damaged, 800 with ten feet or more water
-One lane of traffic each way is now allowed on Broadway, but only from 7-10 am and from 4-7 pm
-6:00 pm Minot river level 1560.02
6/30/11 Thursday
-8:00 am Minot river level 1559.95
-8:00 pm Minot river level 1559.92
-we expect to still be above the all time high (of 1558) until July 6 (Wednesday) morning then it should drop about two feet within a couple of days, at that point we will be at the 1969 flood level, *amazing!*
7/1/11 Friday
-6:00 am Minot river level 1559.66
-6:00 pm Minot river level 1559.44
-People on the fringes of evacuation zones (on the outside fringes) in NW Minot can return to their homes as long as there is no river on their lawns
-The people in the zones protected by the secondary dike next to Broadway will be allowed home when the level reaches 1555
-I've heard rumors that FEMA will want to demolish any house that had 8 feet or more of water
-Rumor also has it that FEMA will not let the people with houses directly next to the river rebuild in the same location, I'm not sure of the extent of the truth of these rumors
7/2/11 Saturday
-8:00 am Minot river level 1559.31
-9:00 pm Minot river level 1558.76
-Broadway is now open (one lane each way, no turns) from 7 am till 8 pm
7/3/11 Sunday
-7:00 am Minot river level 1558.59
-7:00 pm Minot river level 1558.51
-
7/7/11 Thursday
-9:00 am Minot river level 1556.34
-went to seminar on how to properly clean a flooded home
-9:00 pm Minot river level 1555.80
7/8/11 Friday
10:00 am Minot river level 1555.41
-thunderstorms off and on throughout the day, tornado watch until 10 pm
-Mormon Helping Hands (MHH) build outdoor showers at the church for the volunteers coming to use, equipment has been coming in and organized at the church for checkout/checkin, Dad is quartermaster of the equipment
-Broadway is temporarily closed because the rain is flooding the road (opened again when water drained)
-10:00 pm Minot river level 1555.54
7/9/11 Saturday
-7:00 am Minot river level 1555.20
-MHH out in full force all day today from 7 am on, over 30 work orders have been made already
-MHH will be in full force all day tomorrow after a short 7 am sacrament service (rest of the wards combining for sacrament at 9 am and some may join the MHH after that)
-Tide Loads of Hope is in town
-10:00 pm Minot river level 1554.93
7/8/11 Sunday
-7:00 am Minot river level 1554.93
-Hwy 2 now open
-3rd St. bridge open
-Broadway is open 2 lanes each way with limited turns
-NDSF (ND State Fair) has been cancelled due to water receding slower than anticipated
-10:00 pm Minot river level 1554.64
7/9/11 Monday
-8:00 am Minot river level 1554.65
-bridge on the bypass deemed unsafe after being inspected, bypass is closed until further notice for repairs, time estimate unsure
-The boil order is lifted just for those living south of the 2/52 bypass and within the Minot city limits, That's us! yay!
-10:00 pm Minot river level 1554.61
7/12/11 Tuesday
-9:00 am Minot river level 1554.47
-city is prepared to pump water into the river channel once it gets low enough that it won't just flow out a little further downstream
-Mayor visited Perkett area (near our house) and said some places still have 7 feet of water, we don't expect to see our house anytime soon
-there will be a neighborhood meeting for Zone one/Perkett area tomorrow at 7pm at the Grand International, that's us, we are interested to hear what they have to say
-Ramstad will be held in the Auditorium this school year, Lincoln will be held at First Presbyterian, Central Campus Plus at Souris River Campus (Job Corp?)
-8:00 pm Minot river level 1553.94
7/13/11 Wednesday
-10:00 am Minot river level 1553.05
-The meeting tonight didn't reveal any new information. It was called by some neighbors who expected 10 or 12 households to respond, 500-600 people showed up hoping for information and news of our area, we spent 1 1/2 hours mostly bonding as a neighborhood and offering any help and information anyone wanted to share, there were a couple of gripers, but mostly it was a positive-though uninformative-meeting
-10:00 pm Minot river level 1551.78
7/14/11 Thursday
-8:00 am Minot river level 1550.52
-residents and business owners are now allowed into all evacuation zones with no rime restrictions provided there is no water on the lawn and you don't have to drive through water to get there
-you must have a valid ID and proof of address to get into the evacuation zones
-use of the sewer and water systems in prohibited, if there is water in your home call Xcel Energy to disconnect services immediately
-you may not stay overnight at your property unless it is in a self contained camper, camper needs to be parked in the driveway instead of the street so that debris may more easily be picked up
-fire and health officials will be going door to door in evacuation zones passing out info and answering questions
-(I think the city may have started pumping water back into the river channel because the river was down to 1549.99 earlier and now it is slightly higher)
-Rick got to 3 1/2 blocks from our house, he could see it from the railroad tracks by Arrowhead, our garage door has at least survived, not much else can be observed yet
-9:00 pm Minot river level 1550.10
7/15/11 Friday
-6:00 am Minot river level 1549.82
-8:00 pm Minot river level 1549.27
7/16/11 Saturday
-8:00 am Minot river level 1549.00, This is flood stage. Not moderate flood stage, not major flood stage. Just plain old flood stage
-tornado watches and warnings all day long today, we didn't get any inclement weather other than high temperatures and humidity levels
-We finally made it over to our house after they deemed the 16th St. bridge safe enough to drive on.
-The Arrowhead underpass is still full of water and debris, but we can go home by way of Burdick and 16th
-Xcel Energy had come already and Rick and I were able to walk around and take pictures of the condition of the house
-fortunately the floors are sturdy and sound (I've seen some wavy floors and heard about some that have broken through completely under people's weight), the walls are all wavy and mucky, the water level was right at ceiling level so the ceilings (aside from the vaulted ceiling) all got wet and have mold (mostly around the light fixtures for some reason), the light fixtures are full of water/muck, the walls are mostly just mucky and not moldy, the closet doors all came off their hinges and had floated around, the kitchen cupboard above the dishwasher came off and ended up by the front door, the floors are covered in slimy mud that oozes black gunk when stepped on (Rick says that is sewage-gross), the basement is still almost all the way full of BLACK water (that's the technical name for it as well as the actual color of the water), the doors are mossy/moldy and soft (I put a hole in one just nudging it with my toe to open it further-it was very soft), the windows as far as I can tell are all unbroken (except for one that I can see) and the sliding glass door has water in between the panes, the counters are warped and cracked, all the wood cupboards/shelves/railings are completely ruined/warped, our deck is still attached though badly warped and rails broken, our backyard inherited some of the neighbor's things like a little walking bridge and figurines, there is also a few shelves from somewhere in the yard, the garage ceiling has parts missing and insulation hanging from it, the garage walls lost all sheet rock and insulation, and the river opened the garage door about a foot.
-overall we were not surprised or shocked at the condition
-Rick took me away from the gunk (not good for unborn babies) and went back and started pumping the basement and mucking out the garage and driveway
-the Mormon Helping Hands will be helping us (us as in Rick since I'm not allowed) first thing in the morning after a short sacrament meeting at church
-of course this weekend it one of the hottest of the year and we have heat advisories all over, the temps will be between 89 and 95 with a heat index of 105 to 110 degrees. ick.
-9:00 pm Minot river level 1548.44
7/17/11 Sunday
-KX news has not been posting the river level now that it is under flood stage and also because of the weather advisories (such as tornado warnings/thunderstorm warnings around the viewing area) being on the screen constantly
-The MHH are in full force working on our house with Rick. I went over after the second sacrament meeting (for those not volunteering or going later to volunteer) and had Rick take a few pictures of the progress
-it is a hot, sticky, sweaty, yucky process
-We are most grateful for the help that we have in gutting our house. It already looks quite different, but it feels good to get the ball rolling with cleanup and recovery.
-from KX news: effective noon Sunday, the boil order is lifted fr North Prairie Rural Water Zones N-1 and S-1, Zone N-1 is generally described as west of Hwy 83 north of the Souris River and west of Burlington along Hwy 2 (including 101st St. NW) and east of Hwy 83 north of 19th Ave. NE. Zone S-1 is generally described as south of Hwy 2/52 from Bell School west to County Rd 10 (19th Ave. NW)
-the crew got out all the walls, woodwork, cupboards, bathroom fixtures from top floor except for the wall above the stairway, we need to scrape and sweep still, but it's mostly just 2x6 and 2x4 structure upstairs left, ceilings are yet to be removed, excellent progress for one day's work
-pumping the basement-still have about four feet at the end of the day
7/18/11 Monday
-Pumping the basement, looks like some more came in so we will take it slower with the pumping
7/19/11 Tuesday
-Rhonda from flood insurance company called to set up a time to check out the house tomorrow
7/20/11 Wednesday
-Our flood insurance rep came and looked at the upstairs of our house, he needs a couple secondary local price quotes (electrical, heating/cooling) and digital images along with some paperwork, should hear back next week some time
-had another Zone 1 meeting at the Sleep Inn, this time there were at least 20 officials ranging from city leaders to FEMA leaders to state leaders and even some congressional representatives, it was only a question and answer meeting, no new information was presented
7/21/11 Thursday
-our FEMA rep called to make an appointment for inspecting the house (I don't know when that is yet, Rick isn't home for me to ask him)
7/29/11 Friday
-in the past week we've gotten a quote from our insurance agency, FEMA has inspected the top floor and said to call them back when the basement is dry, and our contractor made a visit. We expect the numbers from the contractor some time next week. Hopefully they match up fairly closely with the numbers from the flood insurance. That would be really nice.
-just redoing the electrical work was quoted at $10,800 from an electrician
-the school year will begin Sept 6, school system has asked for permission to shorten the school year by five days and then just make up the residual 3
8/3/11 Wednesday
-Flood insurance people are coming tomorrow to photograph the basement now that the water is gone
-basement has been gutted
-subflooring taken out of bathrooms and entryway in preparation for sanitizing
-tomorrow will be the professional cleaning and sanitation/antimicrobial spraying
-yesterday someone accidentally drove their car into the sink hole in front of our house (which seems to be getting bigger also) they said they lost control after driving on a slippery substance-confirmed by police
-we will soon have a second contractor in to inspect and give estimates for rebuilding
8/11/11 Thursday
-boil order is lifted in all flood zones, which means all of Minot is out of the boil order finally
-we got our final quote from the insurance adjuster, signed it, and sent it in for review by the flood insurance company. we expect word in three to four weeks
8/12/11 Friday
-KMOT news team interviewed mom and dad (as well as Erin) as "Hometown Heroes" who have taken in flood victims, we were on the news!
8/26/11 Friday
-Rick has spent the last couple days (and will continue tomorrow) to power wash the outside of the house
-Rick has an appointment with Rainbow for tomorrow morning to finalize and finish paying now that the cleaning and sanitation work has been completed.
-A temporary power box has been installed at the house. We do have water (and without a boil order even!)
-We received our $15,000 advance payment from the insurance company two days ago. We are holding it until we know the rest is actually coming, in case we have to send it back. :(
-We should find out in a few days if we qualified for the full $1000 grant from Walmart. We know we will get at least $400, but we are optimistic that they will find us worthy of the full $1000.
-The MHH were "disbanded" but have been called back into service in order to fulfill the final 25-30 work orders still remaining since our equipment was sent away for storage but then some sent back (with orders for it to be donated to the community organizations still doing clean up work.) They will work through labor day and then be done. Again.
-Members are called to clean the church tomorrow to prepare for regular meeting schedule starting Sunday. We are going to clean the nursery with a big focus on the carpeting.
9/6/11 Tuesday
-We received our flood insurance check! We picked it up from UPS since our street was blocked off with the fixing of the giant sink-hole in front of the house
-Chris and Amanda were helping Rick do some more cleaning: Amanda took care of the outdoors, Rick finished the siding, Chris took out the last of the wet insulation and powerwashed the deck, they took out the last of the ductwork which will be recycled soon, and I'm not sure what other jobs they did since I was only there a short time
-Disaster people were cleaning the debris from the residential houses on our street today as well.
9/14/11 Wednesday
-Sold the house! Wrote up a purchase agreement, collected our earnest money, signed papers, set up closing date
9/28/11 Wednesday
-Today was supposed to be the closing. We signed but there was some confusion about the time on our buyer's part
9/29/11 Thursday
-Closing on the house completed! We are now no longer home owners, but we cannot say that we are homeless. Grandma and Grandpa Kelly have taken us in for the long haul. We estimate it will take about 15 months to save up and get back to the same dollar amount of downpayment we had going into the house four months ago. No complaints on that. We are not flood victims. We are flood survivors. It's not completely behind us until we own our own home again and are an independent family unit once more. But for the most part, the flood of 2011 is in our past.
5 comments:
Thanks for posting, Erin! We've been thinking about you (and all of Minot) and praying. -Lisa (Fifield) Sheffer
My heart and my prayers are with you.
Godspeed.
I hope everything turns out in a manageable way!!! Our prayers are with you!
Thanks for all the updates! Keep them coming!! We are thinking of you guys!
Thanks Erin! It is killing me. I sit at the computer trying out figure out what exactly is going on! Now I know. I know I'm kind of psycodic, but it's hard to watch. You don't know anything about country club acres where we lived do you. I'm guessing it is all wet too, but it's hard to tell really. I can't imagine. I see where you are coming from saying it's kind of exciting yet devastating at the same time. Our prayers are with you all up there. You are all welcome to escape to KY!
Post a Comment