Lori Sturdevant: Greetings from the flood zone one year later

Nature quickly conceals a flood's scars. Wildflowers soon pierce caked mud. A flowing brook hides accumulated debris. ¶ Rushford's bounce back from the flood that engulfed it and took seven lives one year ago this weekend looks to be a thing of nature. Its main street -- Mill Street -- is alive with fresh-faced businesses. Its residential sections buzz with new construction. Town talk is about a developer's plan for a new motel. No one in Rushford, or elsewhere in the seven southeastern Minnesota counties that sustained the state's all-time record single rainfall on Aug. 18-19, 2007, would say that recovery is complete.

Not everyone made homeless a year ago is home again. Not every bit of damaged infrastructure is repaired. Most of the region's residents will carry invisible burdens -- higher debt loads, hard memories, dashed dreams -- for years to come.

Still, Minnesota's bluff country deserves to be held up as an example of disaster response done right. It's a striking show of the effectiveness of the state's time-honored approach to problem-solving via public-private partnership.

Two things have been crucial to Rushford's "more than successful" rebound, said Mayor Les Ladewig: state assistance, precedent-setting in both generosity and speed; and an enormous volunteer effort.

"We wouldn't be near as far along as we are ... without the special session of the Legislature and the monies appropriated for businesses and residential areas to get them back up and running," Ladewig said.

"Just as important was the humongous outpouring of support from volunteers from all over the United States, who suddenly, miraculously, arrived in Rushford with hammers and saws and the ability to repair damages."

Government, church and charity joining forces is nothing new in Minnesota towns. It's how a lot of community work gets done.

But what southeastern Minnesota has seen in the past year is public-private synergy on steroids.

Not before in memory did the Legislature convene in special session so soon after a disaster to appropriate relief dollars. On Sept. 8, the Rushford-based Tri-County Record pleaded for state help under the potent banner headline, "Rushford: Pawlenty's Katrina." On Sept. 10, Gov. Tim Pawlenty abruptly summoned legislators to the Capitol the next day. The Sept. 11 session authorized spending a generous $157 million in seven sodden counties.

The way those funds were made available was vitally important, said Rushford State Bank President Ted Roberton. "We would not be here without what the state did for us, no question."

Under pressure from the region's business and political leaders, the state's Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) agreed in October to make a 75 percent share of each business loan forgivable if the business stays in operation for 10 years.

That's a higher "forgivable" percentage than the state has offered before. This flood was different from other recent Minnesota disasters, local leaders argued. Other floods spared portions of an affected community's business district. In Rushford and Stockton, more than 90 percent of employers suffered major damage.

"Our businesses had to throw out hundreds of thousands of dollars of inventory that they had loans on," said Rep. Ken Tschumper, DFL-La Crescent. "We had 30 businesses that were not going to open up again" under the 30 percent forgivable terms DEED originally offered. "For them to take on another huge loan, it was going to collapse everything. We told DEED we have to do this differently this time."

Only a handful of Rushford businesses failed to reopen. Eighty firms in the town of 1,700 received state loans.

Tschumper is a dairy farmer and first-termer who became a bulldog for his beleaguered district. His efforts appear to have put him in good stead for his rematch this fall with former GOP Rep. Greg Davids.

The flood rained political grace on a Republican, too. Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Wabasha, won a special election only a few days before the big rain came. He had to learn constituent service quickly -- and he did, vouched Stockton Mayor Jack Roberts.

"I'm really proud of what the state of Minnesota did," Roberts said.

Both legislators deflect praise onto others -- especially leaders of the nonprofit and philanthropic responders. Lutheran Disaster Response and the Salvation Army teamed up in Rushford to provide a one-stop advocacy and assistance shop for flood victims. The Church of the Brethren has sent scores of volunteers to build seven new homes.

St. Joseph Catholic Church in Rushford opened its miraculously dry social hall for meals on Aug. 19. By October it had served 50,000 meals, all with donated labor and food. Donations of food, clothing and furniture filled four buildings at a distribution post at the Winona County Fairgrounds, said one of its organizers, Utica City Clerk Cindy Timm. Through eight months of operation, supplies more than met the need.

The work isn't done. Several dozen families still occupy FEMA trailers. Rental housing is in short supply. The buyout process for people whose homes stood on land now deemed at risk is painfully, shamefully slow.

The flood anniversary will be marked today in Rushford with a home tour and ice cream social, and next weekend in Goodview with a benefit concert and family picnic. Both events will pass the hat for the work that remains. Attendees have much to celebrate -- including their own heightened awareness of the good that can come when the public and private sectors combine.

Lori Sturdevant is a Star Tribune editorial writer and columnist. She is at lsturdevant@startribune.com.