A gubernatorial call has gone out for cleanup volunteers this weekend in flood-stricken southern Minnesota. If Minnesotans are true to long-established form, they will descend on sodden communities like Zumbro Falls and Hammond in big numbers.
Another true-to-form response to the damage done by heavy rainfall on Sept. 22-23 is expected in the next two weeks. Gov. Tim Pawlenty plans to call the Legislature into special session to authorize state spending and borrowing for disaster recovery. Flood relief will be on the docket; it's possible that assistance for Wadena, socked by a June tornado, could be there too.
A cynic might say that politicians want to get into the relief act now because an election is coming soon. The cynic would have it wrong. State funds must be deployed now because winter is coming soon. Some repairs must be made before frozen ground ends the year's construction season.
What's more, Minnesota has learned through hard experience that state government plays a valuable role in helping communities rebound from nature's worst. It supplements federal disaster money to quickly reopen flooded businesses, assist homeowners in financing repairs, and spare hard-pressed local taxpayers from the cost of rebuilding damaged public facilities.
"I can say without qualification that Rushford would be a ghost town without the help of the state," said Ted Roberton, Rushford State Bank president and a city council member in the southeastern Minnesota town worst-hit by flooding in August 2007. Because of the forgivable business loans the state provided, the city's commercial district has fully rebounded, Roberton said.
State government knows its role well. The Pawlenty administration alone has coped with six major floods and several serious tornadoes. Natural disasters occur with such frequency that state government's flood emergency response team has been operational for decades, said state economic development commissioner Dan McElroy.
The Legislature, too, has its act together. In 2008, at the urging of Winona DFL Rep. Gene Pelowski, it enacted a template for disaster relief bills. It allows a bill to be drafted quickly after damage assessments are known -- likely early next week-- and assigns responsibilities among various state agencies. That template, prepared in consultation with the Pawlenty administration, is proving "very, very helpful" now as flooded communities scramble to maximize repairs this fall, McElroy said.
It's worth noting that Pelowski's bill won House approval on a 126-6 vote, and the six all-GOP dissenters included Republican gubernatorial nominee Tom Emmer. The Emmer campaign explained that their candidate considered the template too vague and too sweeping in authorizing school districts to claim lost enrollment and the commissioner of health to remedy public health issues.
