In their own words: The flood

Posted at 4:14 PM on February 14, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

A few weeks ago, we sent out some surveys to people who were victims of last fall's floods in southeast Minnesota. They have, for the most part, played second fiddle in our state's consciousness to the I-35W bridge collapse.

This is the story, in their own words, of Crystal and Colin Schroeder of Rushford.

THE LOSSES

We were luckier than many. My three young children, husband, and I were not home for the flood. We were out of town. When my husband finally reached our house, he found that the water came 2" onto the floor joists of the basement ceiling -- 3" from our main floor.
We stored everything down there -- Christmas decorations, winter clothes, outerwear, my teaching materials, and all our family heirlooms to name a few.

Our children had a playroom downstairs filled with toys, futon, TV, VCR, DVD player, both children and grown-up books (many collectible series). My husband had thousands of dollars worth of auto body-related tools ruined in the four feet of water in the garage.

We got back into our home September 3, after two long weeks of working on the house all day and driving back and forth to Minneapolis and Winona, where we had relatives, late at night. My husband took several weeks off of work and has done most of the work on the house on his own, due to expenses. We thought we were ready to move on and put the worst behind us. Two weeks after we'd cleaned up and moved in, we realized we had to tear the chimney out because the sewage had penetrated the bricks and wasn't leaving. The entire house smelled of raw sewage.

Once again, we thought we could begin painting and finish work. We were horrified in January when we found that the header in the basement, as well as the support columns are all cracking deeply due to being submerged for so long and then drying out. The house now needs to be jacked up, header beam reinforced, support columns replaced, and new footings poured. The foundation needs to be cleaned off, tuckpointed, and resealed. The basement windows need to be replaced as well as the garage doors and siding.

We're surviving, we've gotten a lot of help from the Salvation Army, a local church program, and an amazing immediate and unconditional outpouring of support from friends, families, and co-workers. We have five houses within view from our front steps that have been torn down, another five or so that had to have brand new foundations put in.

The largest struggle is the emotional exhaustion, because you still have to work in a world that is "normal," take care of your family, work on your house, pay bills, and live in a world that seems to be falling apart. One of the hardest things we've had to deal with is people outside of town thinking we (and the town) are OK and "back to normal." No one realizes how bad it is to see everyone struggle so very much. We have a neighbor who isn't back in his house yet. Every day you turn around and something else has gone wrong; things we'd never even thought about.

THE HELP

The help from FEMA was appreciated. It was very quick and the folks we dealt with were wonderful. But the money we received was not adequate to get us back into our house. Many people don't realize that they only pay for "essentials," not the air conditioning, not the washer or dryer.

We were horrified that we had to apply for the SBA loan before we'd be considered for the state monies. The last thing any of us need is another loan! Many here are now paying two mortgages -- one for the house they lost, one for the one they had to build. Others bought a house they couldn't comfortably afford because they had nowhere else to live. Many of the rest of us are now upside down on our mortgage because of the devalued property.

We all prayed that we'd be turned down for the loan. Those that were approved had to take the loan or lose out on some of the state money. The paperwork is horrendous, those providing assistance from the agency administering the state monies (SEMCAC) have been less than understanding or helpful. They cover some damage for some people and not for others. We are currently trying to find out why they will not help us pay to re-side and re-door our garage because it is not attached to the house, though we cannot find anything in the paperwork we've received that says this. They've done it for others, and if we don't get the money, it'll be a lost cause.

The Salvation Army has been wonderful, trying to help connect people to services, provide funds to help out with expenses (remember, we still have to pay bills through all of this) -- very understanding and helpful. They have been a godsend, as have the many volunteers that have come to help. We just hope they continue to come 'til the work is done.

Lutheran Disaster Relief has been wonderful. They've had a steady stream of volunteers down here helping with the rebuilding, people coming for a day to weeks in order to help provide building assistance.

MOST VIVID MEMORIES OF THE FLOOD

The feeling of elation and relief we had when we realized everyone in town was alright; it took so very long to find them all, because we couldn't call or go to find them. The agonizing wait to go back into town, first to only clean the fridge and freezer and have a safety inspection, then to finally start the clean-up process four days later. Lifting out bucket after bucket of personal belongings. Trying to decide if we should keep anything;- would it ever truly be safe again? All the people, friends and relatives, that came to help for the weekend, despite the hot weather, the bees and mosquitoes, the dust, the mold, and the stench. The massive amount of volunteers that came to help the entire town. The outsiders in their Sunday best driving slowly down the street (once they'd been re-opened), craning their necks and pointing at the piles throughout town that had been our lives. They never got out and offered comfort or help. The overwhelming feeling of joy and community that occurred when the grocery store re-opened Halloween night. People were crying as they shopped.

THE FUTURE

Rushford continues to need help. We need skilled volunteers, we need materials, and we need understanding -- the understanding that most of us are not getting '"free money" and going on trips. The understanding that for most of us the gap between the amount of damage we received and the amount of assistance we received was far wider than any thought possible and will leave most of us with debt that will follow us for decades to come. The understanding that no matter how independent we are down here, we need the help and the support.

PS

The last thing I'd like to add was my 7 year old son's response when we told him about the flood (about a week after it happened, my aunt and uncle cared for our children for two weeks after the flood so we could clean up). He cried and screamed. But not for himself. He was crying for all the children that had lost everything they had. He wanted to set a bucket on our stairs to raise money for them. When they went back to my aunt and uncle's house, that's just what they did. They made a sign "Help Rushford, they had a big flood" and went door to door in their Plymouth neighborhood. They collected $209 to buy toys for local children. That is the some of the love and caring we have seen down here.

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Comments (1)

Thanks for sharing your story.

Many of us may have a 'wanting to help' attitude, but the agency recommendations of 'send money' can be discouraging if that's something we don't have a lot to spare, even though we can live in the (high and dry) home we're paying a mortgage on.

For those of us that are not skilled workers, without the experience of jacking up homes and replacing beams and siding, we don't know if we have any useful assistance to offer.

Posted by Nancy | February 15, 2008 4:03 AM

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