Minnesota Prairie Roots

Writing and photography by Audrey Kletscher Helbling

Remembering the children as Minnesota prepares for spring floods February 23, 2011

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 11:12 AM
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SOMETIMES WE FORGET, in the jumble of quotes and information, to see a certain human, deeply personal, side of a news story.

Today, thanks to Katie Shones of Hammond, I’m bringing you a child’s perspective on the devastating flood that engulfed her southeastern Minnesota community of 230 during a September 2010 flash flood. I met Katie shortly after the flood.

The disaster was a terrifying ordeal for Hammond residents, who are still reeling in the aftermath. Many have not yet returned to their homes. Some won’t.

Now, as the focus in Minnesota shifts to predicted record spring flooding, as officials prepare for the highest river levels since the 1960s, as crews begin filling sandbags in areas along the Red River, this seems the right moment to let Katie speak—about her children.

But first a little background. Katie and her husband, Scott, live on the east side of Hammond, which is divided by the Zumbro River. The river flows just across Main Street, the highway and the park from the Shones’ home. Floodwaters came within feet—feet—of their house, lapping at their front door.

The home of Katie and Scott Shones and their children, photographed by Hammond resident Gene Reckmann during the September 2010 flood. Their house was spared, by mere feet.

Katie isn’t too worried about flooding this spring. Yet, she’s concerned enough to have a plan. If the Zumbro River rises like it did last fall, she and Scott will haul sand and gravel from a local quarry and build a bank to protect their home. They also have a relocation plan in place.

Their 11-year-old daughter, Rebekah, is ready too. “Ever the resourceful and prepared child she is, she has two bags jam-packed with stuff underneath her bed just in case we have to leave on a moment’s notice due to floodwaters,” Katie says.

This mother’s words break my heart. No child should have to worry about a flood.

But the depth to which the Hammond flood has impacted Rebekah and her 9-year-old brother Jerome reaches beyond concerns about a future flood. “The September flood has affected them more deeply than I had ever imagined,” Katie tells me. “Bekah still occasionally cries out in her sleep, ‘Daddy, Daddy, help me.’ When I ask her what is wrong, she mumbles things about the flood. She never fully wakes up, but I do believe she is having nightmares about that day.”

As a mother, simply reading this brings me to tears. I can only imagine how Katie and Scott feel when they hear their daughter cry out for help in her sleep.

“Jerome has seen the flooding in Australia on the news and is very worried that it will spread to Hammond,” Katie continues. “I have tried to reassure my kids that if it ever gets as bad as it did last fall, we will leave long before it reaches our place and go to Grandma Merle’s (my mother’s farm). The farm is located just two miles from our home, but is on the limestone bluffs above the Zumbro River.”

With so many Hammond residents forced from town and many still not back in their homes, Katie says her children are also without many playmates. “…there never were many children in the area their ages to play with, but now there are only four kids in Hammond left for them to play with.”

That said, the absence of their playmates serves as a daily reminder to Rebekah and Jerome of the floodwaters which ravaged their town and came terrifyingly close to flooding their home.

As Minnesotans physically prepare for the floodwaters that are certain to inundate communities and homes, I hope river town residents are also preparing psychologically, specifically remembering the children like Rebekah and Jerome.

Floodwaters destroyed this portion of Wabasha County Road 11, the river road which runs from Hammond to Jarrett. Gene Reckmann photographed this section of the roadway just outside of Hammond.

THANK YOU, Katie, for allowing me to share your deeply personal story. Thank you also to Gene Reckmann of Hammond for the photos posted here.

READERS, IF YOU have not read my series of posts and photos about the September flood in Hammond and neighboring Zumbro Falls, check my Minnesota Prairie Roots archives for stories published during the week of October 11, 2010.

Copyright 2011 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Worries about spring flooding along the Zumbro River February 8, 2011

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 11:09 AM
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IF YOU LIVE along a river in Minnesota, are you concerned about spring flooding?

While predictions for significant, wide-spread flooding in our state focus primarily on those living along the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers, folks in other riverside communities are worried too.

Take the residents of Hammond, a southeastern Minnesota town of 230 which sits along the banks of the Zumbro River. Eighty percent of the houses and most of the businesses there were flooded during a late September 2010 flash flood. Many residents still are not back in their homes.

I visited Hammond and nearby flood-ravaged Zumbro Falls only weeks after that flood and talked to several locals, including Katie Shones. The Zumbro River flooded across park land, a highway and Main Street before lapping at the door of Katie’s family’s Hammond home.

 

Katie Shones and her family live in this house, photographed during the September 2010 flood. Her house was spared, by mere feet. Other houses and businesses along her street were flooded by the Zumbro River.

Her friend, Tina Marlowe, wasn’t as fortunate. The home where Tina lives with her fiancé Micheal; her 7 and 16-year-old children; and future in-laws, Bob and Cathy, was flooded with the basement entirely engulfed in water and 3 – 4 inches of water on the main level. The house is elevated approximately three feet above the ground.

Tina and her family moved back into their home right after Christmas.

I emailed Tina and Katie recently with these questions:

Are you concerned about possible spring flooding? How about your community? Have you, or are you going to, purchase flood insurance? Are you making any special preparations for possible flooding?

Their answers differ somewhat, probably based on personal experience more than anything. Yet, concern is woven into each of their responses, enough concern so that they are planning for the possibility of spring flooding.

Katie tells me: “Lots of people are talking about the possibility of another flood, but kind of have the devil may care attitude. If it is going to flood, there is not much one can do about it. Natural disasters happen all the time.”

 

Main Street Hammond at the height of the September 2010 flood. Water was rushing over the sidewalk and into the basement of the gray house via the cellar doors. Katie Shones' house is only two lots away from the gray house.

Katie’s not worried about her home flooding. Her house isn’t even in the 500-year flood zone and she hasn’t purchased flood insurance. Yet, if the water starts to rise like last fall, she and her husband will haul sand and gravel from local quarries and build a bank in front of their home to protect it.

Her feelings about spring flooding are mixed, though, she says, because of all the snow. “If the ground isn’t frozen, hopefully most will drain into the soil and not reach the river. If the snow melts at a normal pace, I really don’t think we have much to worry about.”

Then she adds this kicker: “I think the Rochester flood control project on the Zumbro River had a huge role to play in this fall’s flood.”

I know nothing of Rochester’s flood control project, but if Katie is thinking this, then I bet other residents are too.

Katie’s friend Tina already has a plan in place for spring flooding and her future father-in-law is checking into flood insurance. “I am very concerned,” she says.

“Mike and I are making a plan,” she shares. “Activation Stage in Zumbro Falls is 15 feet and flood stage is 18 feet. So if the river rises to 15 feet and the crest is predicted to be over 20, Mike and I will be pulling all of our stuff out of the basement and main level and will take it up to the second floor. Then we will pre-pack the car, and have our vehicles moved to higher ground before we get the evacuation call.

Since my father-in-law is now acting mayor, I’m sure that Mike and I would be helping out with door-to-door notifications if in fact there is an evacuation ordered. It is still undetermined what would happen if the house sustains damage again.”

Tina has one more worry related to possible spring flooding. She is getting married and her wedding will be at Municipal Beach Park in Wabasha with the reception at a riverside restaurant there. “I am very, very concerned about the Mississippi flooding…my back-up plan was the park in Hammond. I am holding my breath and doing a lot of praying!!!!!”

© Copyright 2011 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

Photos by Gene Reckmann and courtesy of Katie Shones

 

Gratitude from a Minnesota flood survivor January 14, 2011

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 4:15 PM
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YESTERDAY I APPROVED a comment submitted by Tina Marlowe on my November 12, 2010, post, “An update from flood-ravaged Hammond & Floodfest 2010.”

Maybe you read the comment from this woman who survived the September flooding of tiny Hammond in southeastern Minnesota. Tina and her family fled their flooded home and lived in a hotel, then a rental house in Rochester, before returning to Hammond shortly after Christmas.

In case you missed Tina’s heartfelt comment, I am republishing it here because you need to read the words of this flood survivor. She writes with touching honesty, depth and emotion.

A child's toy lies among the tires and other rubble at a collection point in Hammond when I visited the small Wabasha County town along the Zumbro River some 2 1/2 weeks after the September flood. Seeing that child's discarded toy among all the flood debris depicted, for me, the personal side of this natural disaster.

You’ll hear more from Tina in the future. She sent me a four-page e-mail in response to additional questions I asked. Her answers will move you to tears. Once I’ve sorted through her missive—and that could take a week or three—I’ll publish Tina’s complete story in a series of installments.

But for now, read this portion of Tina’s story:

I AM THE DEAR FRIEND that Katie spoke of. My name is Tina. I am happy to report that my family: my father and mother-in-laws to be; my fiancé, Micheal; and my children, Cassandra and Christian, moved back into our home in Hammond the weekend of New Year’s Eve. We tried desperately to get back in by Christmas, but a couple of our snow storms and other glitches set us back a few days. But we are home, finally.

It has been a long, hard road to get here, and it is simply amazing how far we have come in such a relatively short amount of time. We are lucky, so very, very lucky. We are the third or so family home so far. But it is comforting to look out the window and see the contractors in our neighbors’ houses!

I know now what they don’t quite realize yet. Their homes are going to be beautiful once again, and most likely better than they were before! I cannot even describe the emotions of coming home to a beautifully rebuilt home, after all we have been through.

It would have never been possible, though, without the hard work, generosity, and compassion of all of our neighbors. Not just our neighbors in Hammond, Zumbro Falls, Mazeppa, Millville, Elgin, Plainview and Rochester, but also our neighbors in Rushford and Winona area who know all too well the nightmare we are going through, our neighbors from Minneapolis, Wisconsin, Iowa, and reaches farther than anyone will ever know.

From our school districts, to church groups, to motorcycle clubs, teen-agers, retirees, sentence-to-serve program…. the diversity of mid-westerners that rallied around us and embraced us and fed us and clothed us and held us and cried with us, and wiped our tears and told us we would be ok…

It has all been a truly amazing demonstration of humanity…. indescribable. I am very proud to live in such a wonderful place, and eternally grateful to each and every person who has already, and those who are still to come, for all of your help. There is still a lot, I mean a lot, of work left to be done, and I know that with such wonderful people surrounding us that it will be done.

Thank you and God Bless You All – The Mann Family

© Copyright 2011 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Ongoing stories of flood recovery in Hammond, Jarrett and Zumbro Falls January 5, 2011

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 8:50 AM
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THREE MONTHS AGO I met four strong women from Wabasha County.

They had survived devastating late September floods that ravaged their communities and left two of them homeless.

Since then, I’ve kept in contact with one of those survivors, Katie Shones of tiny Hammond. The floodwaters of the Zumbro River stopped within feet of her front door. Now, that might be enough for Katie to breathe a sigh of relief and continue on with her life. But not Katie. She cares about her hamlet of Hammond and the residents she considers family.

 

A flood-damaged home and garage in Hammond, along the same street where Katie Shones and her family live. I took this photo only 2 1/2 weeks after the late September flood devastated the area.

I CARE, TOO, and I’ve promised Katie that I will continue telling the story of this region. In the always changing world of natural disasters, we quickly forget about a flood or an earthquake or a tornado as they all blend seamlessly together. That may sound harsh, but I know it is honest reality.

Katie e-mailed a few days ago, after I selected eight posts on the September flooding as my personal favorite Minnesota Prairie Roots stories for 2010.

In her message, Katie updated me on the recovery situation in Hammond and neighboring Zumbro Falls and Jarrett.

First, she tells me that her brother and his wife, whose main street Zumbro Falls home had water almost up to the first floor ceiling, have purchased a home “way high up on the hill” two miles south of Zumbro Falls. Did you catch that “way high up on the hill” part?

Her dear friend and family, who were living in a hotel and making mortgage payments on an uninhabitable residence, returned to their Hammond home the day after Christmas. “They are so grateful to be back,” Katie writes.

Another resident has moved into a new trailer house on her lot in Hammond. Some 80 percent of the homes and most of the businesses in the community of 230 were flooded.

Katie’s mother-in-law is still shuttling between family members’ homes and hasn’t decided what she will do. Her home of 53 years, two miles down river from Jarrett, had floodwaters flowing out of first floor windows.

Susie Shones, whom I interviewed and who is married to Katie’s husband’s cousin, is now temporarily renting a trailer home above Jarrett. Six feet of floodwaters forced Susie and her husband out of their first Jarrett rental house. Ironically, says Katie, the limestone bluffs surrounding Hammond and Jarrett are among the highest elevation points in Wabasha County.

Businesses along the street where Katie lives are beginning to recover. The bank has reopened. The bar is expected to reopen in March. And the restaurant owner is hard at work remodeling his building.

 

Minnwest Bank in Hammond, by Katie's home, has reopened.

The partially-gutted restaurant interior, photographed on October 10, 2010, is now being renovated.

“OTHER THAN THAT, not much happening in Hammond and the surrounding area due to the weather,” Katie writes. “Hammond continues to look like a ghost town. Every other street light is shut off and the majority of the homes are dark. I keep expecting to see coyotes roaming the streets……”

© Copyright 2010 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Top Minnesota Prairie Roots posts honor “strong women” December 31, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 12:17 PM
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GARRISON KEILLOR, in defining the residents of his fictional Lake Wobegon, characterized all the women as strong.

The same could be said for four women I met this past fall while pulling together a series of stories that I’ve selected as my most memorable posts of 2010 here at Minnesota Prairie Roots.

I had no difficulty choosing my favorite posts, because, hands down, the eight stories I wrote in the aftermath of devastating southern Minnesota floods were clearly the most powerful, emotional and heart-wrenching stories I shared in 2010.

A Zumbro Falls home destroyed by the late September flood.

These posts, interestingly enough, evolved by accident. My husband and I were on a Sunday afternoon drive to view the fall colors when we drove into Zumbro Falls, a Wabasha County town of some 200 that was inundated with late September floodwaters. Everywhere we looked, we saw damaged homes.

That’s where I met Zumbro Falls resident Tracy Yennie, who lost her home in the flood. This hard-scrabble young woman willingly shared her story, as did Jackie (I didn’t get her last name), Susie Shones and Katie Shones of nearby Hammond.

Tracy Yennie hangs out in downtown Zumbro Falls 2 1/2 weeks after floodwaters destroyed her home..

These women spoke openly, honestly and frankly about their frustrations, their fears and their concerns about the future. Yet, despite that, they, Yennie especially, maintained a semblance of humor. When Yennie pondered my question about life returning to normal, she replied: “What’s normal? Normal is a setting on a washing machine.”

Throughout their ordeal, Zumbro Falls residents maintained a sense of humor, like that seen in this sign I photographed on the garage of a flood-damaged split-level house along Water Street.

If you have not read these powerful interviews with the strong women of Zumbro Falls, Jarrett and Hammond, then go to “Archives” on my home page, click on “October 2010” and scroll to my October 11, 13 and 14 posts.

You will be impressed by the strength of these women.

In addition to these four, I will also remember a family that was cleaning up their flooded Zumbro Falls property. I asked to photograph them, but the mother lashed out at me, refusing my request. In that moment and in the next moment, when I saw the blank, sad look on her young daughter’s face, I realized the personal, emotional depth of this tragedy.

I was forever changed by that encounter.

The flood-damaged garage of the Zumbro Falls resident who refused my request for a photo.

My stories also brought out the goodness in others. Gary Schmidt of the Twin Cities responded to a November 12 appeal for help in the flooded region. He offered to bring some 10 volunteers to Hammond for several days around January 20. He’s with a church group that has assisted flood victims during the past six years in New Orleans, Rushford, Iowa City and Indiana.

The exposed side of the restaurant/grocery in Hammond, where a portion of a building once stood. The building was lying in a heap in the street.

When I last heard from Schmidt, he was coordinating with a Woodbury church group that helped earlier in Hammond and with Katie Shones, the Hammond resident I interviewed.

You can expect me to follow-up on that volunteerism.

And, next fall, you can expect me to revisit the strong women of Zumbro Falls, Jarrett and Hammond. I’ve promised them I’ll return.

A sign of hope in Zumbro Falls, next to a gas station, on my visit there less than three weeks after the flood.

© Copyright 2010 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

 

 

Minnesota Prairie Roots’ top 10 posts for 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 8:50 AM
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WHAT WERE THE MOST-VIEWED Minnesota Prairie Roots posts during 2010?

Surprisingly, three of the posts which are in the top five this year were also in the top five last year.

But I’m going to keep you in suspense about those posts as we count down, beginning with the 10th most-viewed post in 2010.

10) “Inspired by Dr. Seuss: My sister’s fat cat,” a Dr. Seuss-type poem published along with three photos of my sister’s cat came in at number 10 with 392 views.

My sister's fat cat, Sable.

9) Whenever I write about old churches, I’m almost guaranteed that my readership that day will soar. So I was not surprised to learn that “Inside the 1894 Valley Grove Church” ranks as my ninth most popular post for 2010 with 411 views. In this story, I take readers inside the historic hilltop country church near Nerstrand.

Simplistic Norwegian style inside the 1894 Valley Grove Church, as viewed from the balcony.

8.) I have no idea why “Saturday ‘steals’ (deals)” held so much interest for Minnesota Prairie Roots readers. Maybe the 447 viewers who clicked on this story are avid garage-salers, just like me, looking for a deal.

The "new" Toshiba TV my husband got for free at a church rummage sale.

7) Like churches, barns bring lots of readers to Minnesota Prairie Roots. In “I love old barns,” I show readers the barn where I labored as a child—feeding cows, scooping manure, bedding straw and more. This post got 484 views.

The early 1950s barn on the Redwood County dairy farm where I grew up is no longer used.

6) When floods ravaged southern Minnesota this fall, I was there, photographing the disaster and interviewing survivors. My “Flooding in Faribault” post (among numerous flood stories) got 519 views.

A roadway arrow on flooded Second Avenue N.W. by the Faribault Foods office directs motorists into North Alexander Park.

5) “Henna tattoos and body art by a “gypsy woman,” which was the fourth most popular in 2009, fell a notch to fifth place in 2010. I still cannot figure out why this story about a henna tattoo artist at the Kenyon Rose Fest has drawn so much interest, with 530 views in 2010.

Henna art at the Kenyon Rose Fest

4) “An autumn drive in Rice County, Minnesota” attracted 549 views as I took readers on a Sunday afternoon drive through the countryside. Local tourism officials, take note. I’ve done my share to draw attention to the Faribault area.

A corn field ripens against a back drop of trees.

3) “Preserving the past at Immanuel, Courtland, MN.,” which was the most- read post last year, slipped to third in 2010 with 623 views. In this story, I take readers inside the home congregation of my maternal forefathers.

A view of Immanuel from the church balcony.

2) The second-place ranking of  “In praise of preserving country churches” does not surprise me as this post was featured on the homepage of WordPress.com on July 10. The Freshly Presssed selection garnered a record number of blog visitors, 1,052, on a single day. This post had 1,304 views in 2010.

An altar painting was transported to Moland Lutheran Church south of Kenyon by horse-drawn wagon from Faribault in 1893.

1) Finally. Number uno, the most viewed post during 2010 was written on November 5, 2009, following a presentation at Faribault High School. “Rachel’s Challenge: Start a chain reaction of kindness,” about the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, got 1,702 views. Last year, this was also one of my most popular stories, coming in at number five.

Rachel Scott, who died at Columbine, and the inspiration for Rachel's Challenge.

I wish I could explain the reasons behind the top 10 rankings. Some I can. I’ve noticed that certain topics—like churches and barns—really interest readers. But henna tattoos and fat cats? Figure that out.

IF YOU MISSED ANY of these most-viewed posts, click on the highlighted titles/words, which will link you to the stories.

DISCLAIMER: These are unscientific results given I simply pulled stats from my administrative page but did not factor in how long, for example, a post has been on Minnesota Prairie Roots. That can skew numbers. However, I am confident the above summary is fairly accurate.

CHECK BACK FOR MY PERSONAL favorite posts of the year.

© Copyright 2010 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

An update from flood-ravaged Hammond & Floodfest 2010 November 12, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 5:27 PM
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WHEN I MET KATIE SHONES a month ago outside her Hammond home across Wabasha County Road 11 from the Zumbro River, she was angry. She was waiting for President Barack Obama to issue a disaster declaration that would begin the process of rebuilding her flood-ravaged community of 230.

Some 80 percent of the homes in her town, and most if not all of the businesses, were damaged by late September floodwaters. She was one of the lucky ones; the water stopped several feet from her front door.

A flood-damaged home and garage in Hammond, photographed in mid-October..

Yet, the impact on her community, on family and friends, left Katie reeling.

We’ve exchanged several e-mails since our mid-October meeting. With Katie’s permission, I am sharing here, in her words, how she and others have been impacted, why she is frustrated and how you can help.

Interestingly enough, Katie begins her first e-mail with a definitive choice of words that truly causes me to pause. She terms the people of southeastern Minnesota “flood survivors,” adding this in parenthesis: (notice I did not say flood victim!).

Right away I ask her to explain why that differentiation is so important.

I prefer the term survivor. The flood is over, it is time to get on with life, move forward and face all the challenges head on. Victim sounds like you are allowing someone or something to take advantage of you. It sounds downtrodden, depressed. I see people of all ages doing what midwesterners do best “pulling themselves up by the bootstraps.”

So who are these people, these strong, strong people whom Katie knows?

My brother’s house is in Zumbro Falls – main street – and had water almost up to the first floor ceiling. They can rebuild if they want providing the first floor is 1.7 ft above the 100 year flood plain. At this point, my brother and his wife will spend the winter at my mom’s and decide what to do in the Spring, as to whether they will raise the existing house up 1.7 ft, rebuild or move to a different home. They did have flood insurance.

My mother-in-law’s home is approximately 2 miles down river from Jarrett. She has lived in that house for 53 years and in that time her house had never once flooded except for this Sept. The flood waters came out of the first floor windows. She did not have flood insurance because she is not in the flood plain. The house is stripped down to the stud walls and she plans on fixing up the house and moving back in sometime this coming year. She has signed up for the free insulation and sheet rock. A son and a son-in-law will do the re-wiring.

For now, Katie’s 75-year-old widowed mother-in-law is bouncing among her five daughters’ homes.

My dear friend and her family have been living in a hotel room since the flood occurred. They still have to make the mortgage payment on their uninhabitable home plus come up with the money for the hotel…….

She details in a follow-up email that her friend’s family has now found a house to rent in Rochester for the winter and will fix up their Hammond home and move back as soon as they can. Three generations lived in that house, which lies in the 500-year flood plain and saw floodwaters rise more than two feet into the first floor.

I can only think that for the trio of flood survivor stories Katie has shared with me, there are hundreds more. She continues:

To be honest with you, I have not talked with many of my former neighbors. I do not know where some of them have moved to. A few Hammondites cannot rebuild because they are in the flood way. Some are walking away because they never want to go through anything like this ever again. I get the feeling the majority of residents will rebuild. Hammond is their home. Some will remodel and others are talking about putting in trailer houses or modular homes.

The exposed side of a restaurant/grocery in Hammond, where a portion of a building once stood. A month ago the ruins lay in a heap in the street.

Katie praises those who have come to the aid of flood survivors.

Many volunteer organizations have come in to the area and have done an amazing job.  People and groups have helped tear down damaged walls and floors, picked up junk and debris, local restaurants and businesses have brought in meals. One church organization is donating insulation and sheet rock to flood damaged homes and the labor to put the materials up!!! Others have come in and power washed basements and walls to prevent black mold.

Volunteers are still needed. Call the Hammond City Hall at (507) 753-2086 and leave a message stating that you are willing to help and what special skills you can offer.

With the exception of winter wear, clothing donations are not needed. Furniture is welcomed, Katie says, adding though that many survivors have no place to store anything.

Monetary donations for flood relief may be directed to:

MinnWest Bank – Rochester, 331 16th Ave NW, Rochester, MN. 55901

People’s State Bank, 100 4th Ave SE, Plainview, MN. 55964

While Katie appreciates the kindness and help of so many, she remains frustrated with the government.

What is so maddening is the government’s response to the homeowners. I have been told that the reason there is so little assistance to the individual is because so few homes (only 604 homes) were affected. That shouldn’t make any difference. A home is a home and these people still need a place to live. Many have moved in with family members. I think the biggest thing people can do is call their elected officials and express outrage at how this entire tragedy has been handled. I truly believe that the average Minnesotan does not realize the extent of devastation in Wabasha County, the hardest hit county during the flood.

THIS WEEKEND YOU CAN JOIN flood relief efforts by attending Floodfest 2010 at Bluff Valley Campground, 61297 390th Ave., Zumbro Falls. Proceeds will benefit those impacted by the southeastern Minnesota flood. The event begins today at 5 p.m with a fish fry and continues until 1 a.m. Floodfest then resumes at 7 a.m. Saturday with a prayer service followed by a pancake breakfast. The weekend is jam-packed with music, a kids’ carnival, sporting activities, a bake sale, silent auction, arts and crafts and more. Click here for more information.

A Zumbro Falls home destroyed by the September flood.

© Copyright 2010 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Flood of paper work for Zumbro Falls city hall October 14, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 8:39 AM
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TALK ABOUT GOVERNMENT paperwork… well, you ought to see what I saw in flood-ravaged Zumbro Falls on Sunday afternoon. Scattered across the lawn and the patio of an uninhabitable home next to the combination fire hall and city hall, sheets and sheets and sheets of paper lay, weighted by stones, drying in the open air.

These documents, these papers (I resisted looking too closely), came from the city office.

Just steps away outside of city hall, which is a corner of the fire station, a woman sorted through stacks and stacks of dried city paperwork anchored by stones on a picnic table belonging to the Mazeppa Lions Club.

My first reaction to viewing this trail of paperwork: How trusting, how very trusting, to expose this government paperwork here, in the open, before the public eye. But that’s small-town Minnesota, where, for the most part, you can trust your neighbor and city hall.

DEAR READERS:

This concludes my series of stories on the aftermath of flooding in Zumbro Falls and Hammond, which were especially hard-hit by late September flooding. Interestingly enough, I had written this post earlier yesterday, before President Barack Obama issued a disaster declaration for 21 Minnesota counties, including my home county of Rice and Wabasha, where the featured towns are located.

As I understand the declaration—and I don’t pretend to know the nuances of how this works—funding will now be available to state and local governments and some non-profit groups in the flood-stricken counties.

Aid for individuals and businesses affected by floodwaters is not included in the declaration. That leaves me wondering about the men and women and families in Zumbro Falls and Hammond, and all of the other impacted communities.

To Tracy, Jackie, Susie and Katie, the four women whom I interviewed (see my previous posts), I encourage you to hold on. You’ve already shown incredible strength. Thank you for allowing me to share your stories and your opinions with the readers of Minnesota Prairie Roots. You are, indeed, strong women.

A building marked as uninhabitable in downtown Zumbro Falls, photographed on October 10.

© Copyright 2010 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

After the flood: humor and hope October 13, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 7:27 AM
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YOU CAN CHOOSE to laugh or to cry, or to laugh after you’ve cried.

You can choose to give up or to be strong.

In Zumbro Falls, you’ll find humor and hope in a town overtaken almost three weeks ago by a flash flood that damaged nearly every home and business.

Sure, residents of this small southeastern Minnesota community are frustrated and tired and angry. Yet, they remain hopeful. They can still laugh between tears.

 

 

This sign hangs on the garage of a split-level house along Water Street in Zumbro Falls.

 

 

This is the now uninhabitable flooded house where the humorous sign, above photo, hangs. You can see it between the open garage doors. Floodwaters rose to about the top of the front door into the home.

 

 

To the right, just above the front door, you can see a line marking how high the water rose on the split-level house, above image.

 

 

Water Street seems appropriately named given the residences along the street that were flooded.

 

 

I don't know whether this fish was hung on this front porch before or after the Zumbro Falls flood, but I'm guessing afterward.

 

 

It seems ironic that a bottled water cooler stands beneath the words "WATER LEVEL" on the Zumbro Falls Fire Hall.

 

 

Was Z.F. Storage for sale before or after the flood? I don't know, but the structure is now labeled with this warning: LIMITED ENTRY. ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK. THIS STRUCTURE IS UNINHABITABLE."

 

 

A sign of hope in Zumbro Falls, next to a gas station.

 

© Copyright 2010 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

“Very angry” in flood-stricken Hammond October 11, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 4:33 PM
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Hammond's damaged city hall is closed and has been moved to St. John's Lutheran Church.

 

IN HAMMOND, Katie Shones steps onto the pavement, points to the spot only feet from the sidewalk that shows just how close floodwaters came to her home. Even though her house, just across Wabasha County Road 11 from the Zumbro River, escaped the raging waters by mere feet, she’s upset.

“I’m very angry,” Shones says. “Obama needs to get off his butt and declare it a disaster area.”

She contends that if this was the Twin Cities, with 80 percent of the houses affected by the flood like the 80 percent in Hammond, something would be happening.

“First it’s grief, then post traumatic stress and now people are getting angry,” Shones continues, her agitation increasing.

“It’s devastating. Winter’s coming. Where are these people going to live?” She’s worried about her friends and neighbors in this town of some 230.

 

 

A flood-damaged home and garage in Hammond.

 

Shones need only look across or down the street, toward the row of water-damaged businesses or to the heaps of ruined appliances or to the piles of tires or to the lined-up trash containers to understand the devastation.

She’s had enough. She wants help for her community. Now.

 

 

Destroyed appliances and more are piled at a collection point along Wabasha County Road 11 in Hammond.

 

 

 

H.C.C. Restaurant & Groceries was flooded by the Zumbro River.

 

 

The partially-gutted restaurant interior.

 

 

The exposed side of the restaurant/grocery, where a portion of a building once stood. The building lies in a heap now in the street.

 

 

The bank in Hammond has temporarily closed.

 

 

Trash cans line the street outside the Hammond Bar.

 

 

A child's toy lies among the tires and other rubble at a collection point in Hammond.

 

© Copyright 2010 Audrey Kletscher Helbling