Neighbors, strangers aid Minot flood victims

MINOT, N.D. - As the Souris River rose relentlessly beyond its banks and swept over levees on Friday, the people of Minot came together as North Dakotans do -- with fortitude, determined generosity and few words.

While more than 10,000 people were evacuated from areas ravaged by the worst flood in this city's history -- roughly a quarter of the population -- only 225 sought refuge in two shelters set up by the Red Cross.

Residents on high ground took in those from low. Some lent campers to the newly homeless. Others offered trucks and trailers along with their strong arms and backs to move evacuees' possessions to safe havens. With the state's oil boom and an influx of new workers, few, if any, apartments and hotel rooms could be found.

"We were prepared for about 800 people," said Susan Ewertt, the newly named site director of disaster operations for the Mid-Dakota Red Cross. "The community has been great. It speaks so highly of their kindness."

Erin McCabe discovered that firsthand Friday afternoon, as friends and a few strangers emptied her modest home on the city's west side into four pick-up trucks idling at the curb.

"To tell you the truth, I'm not sure who all these people are," said McCabe, still wearing her Air Force flight suit and hoisting her befuddled 4-year-old daughter, Anna.

"Here's your checkbook, it was on the dresser," said one of the movers.

"Dude, can I help?" asked a tattooed teen with a blue-streaked mohawk.

"I'm good," Hamalainen replied. "The sewer fumes are coming up; it's nasty in there. I don't want anyone getting sick."

He frantically pitched a few Red Cross T-shirts into the truck. "We have five to 10 minutes here, tops."

The waters never seemed to surge as one might expect from such a devastating flood. Instead, they edged forward insidiously and quietly.

'A nervous wreck'

"I was a nervous wreck," said Dona Young, 87, who is staying at the Red Cross shelter established in the Minot Municipal Auditorium. "How in the world are you supposed to pick the best of your belongings?"

"I just looked at all my stuff and said, 'What do I need?' I was in a haze," said Claudette Lalonde, whose mobile home on the city's south side is a total loss. On Wednesday morning, she called a community hotline for help moving.

"They gave me the name of someone who came with a truck, and as it turned out, it was the friend of a friend of a friend." A well-practiced volunteer with a community organization helped her focus on taking what was most valuable -- appliances and electronics -- and what was most important, including family photos.

The drawn-out nature of the flood permitted some residents to return to their homes Wednesday for more belongings, even after they had been evacuated.

After she had emptied her home of the most practical items Tuesday, Brigette O'Grady realized later she had forgotten something: "All I really wanted to get was my grandmother's antique sewing machine," she said. With the help of a volunteer (with truck, of course), she was able to lug the beloved machine to high ground.

She called her boyfriend, Frank Papenfuss, in a panic. Please, please, can you go back for them?

Papenfuss took it all in good humor: "Hell, I can swim," he quipped.

Photos safely retrieved, Shearer and Papenfuss set up a temporary home in a camper on a hill north of downtown overlooking the city's flooded core, along with about a dozen other recreational vehicles.

The owner of the nearby Grand International Inn, which owns the lot, told them they could stay as long as they wanted.

"I have no idea how long we'll be here," Shearer said.

Contemplating the future seemed a distant concept to most, especially since the Souris was expected to crest Saturday.

John Garrett II was busy Friday moving his parents' belongings into his garage in West Minot as his wife, Rose, packed them into Rubbermaid tubs, and dutifully labeled them with blue painter's tape.

"How do you organize 50 years of stuff?" Rose sighed.

For the time being, his parents will live in a camper parked in the driveway of their tidy suburban home. A donated roll-off trailer sat on the street, packed with furniture and ensconced in a gray tarp.

"This has been hard on my parents, they lived in that house for 24-25 years," John said. "My friend went down there yesterday and took a look around with all the water.

Janet Moore • 612-673-7752