Dream house saved from river remodeling
By DeAnne Hilgers
The Forum
HARWOOD, N.D. – To get home these days, Chris Denis parks about a mile north of Harwood, slips on his waders, slogs across the washed-out gravel road, fishes his bike from the ditch and rides it half a mile to the next washout.

So it goes – water, road, water, road – for two miles until he reaches his house north of Harwood.

The 20-minute commute from Fargo has become a 1½-hour trek, aggravated by a stubborn, slowly receding river and a thief.

Denis’ duck boat, which he used to motor over the flooded Sheyenne River to the 6-foot ring dike around his home, was stolen last week.

"We will be laughing about this someday," says his wife, Mary. "It is kind of funny. People look at us and shake their heads."

Mary and their son, Ryan, have been living in a friend’s home in West Fargo for the past two weeks. Chris has plodded back and forth since the flood washed out sections of the gravel township road up to their home.

Someone needs to check the pumps and watch the house.

It could be worse, Mary says. At least they have their home.

On March 25, before the flood, she borrowed a bulldozer and driver, who scraped away four feet of snow and ripped up their two-acre backyard in a gamble she hoped would be worth the damage.

Using the dirt from their yard and another 100 truckloads of clay, they built the dike that would save Mary’s dream home.

Their house, with kiln-dried cedar walls, is the vacation home she wanted. A porch overlooking the yard and river becomes her hideaway in summer.

This winter, she and Chris began finishing the basement but abandoned the project when talk of the flood arose.

Instead they went to work on the dike, stockpiling plastic and sandbags in case those might also be needed.

"When they’re talking the flood of the century, I’m not going to take it lightly," she says.

Some acquaintances scoffed at the massive preparations, but the Denis’ may have the last laugh.

Their home sits at 889 feet above sea level, above the flood plain. The river reached nearly 892 feet above sea level.

In the eight years the Denis’ have lived there, this is the first time the Sheyenne threatened their home, 200 yards away.

Water came up the dike on three sides. It didn’t reach the top, but it refuses to back away.

Mary, who has been staying at a friend’s house while they’re away, hopes to return to her own home Friday, when her hosts return.

"I’m just praying the water will go down on our roads or I’ll be looking for another place or I’ll be wading," she says.