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I have spent the majority of my adult life living here, there, and

everywhere, but having grown up there, I'll always consider the F-M

area "home". I was in Memphis, Tn. at the time, and watched most of

the drama unfold via television. I remember turning on CNN for updates

whenever I had a chance and in having "Dennis Walaker" and NBC's "Jim

Avila" become household names. My question while watching this all unfold

was for the most part - what's next? I would say that the most amazing

thing was the way the people of the community all came together to help out during time of crisis, but THAT, in and of itself, would be a gross

understatement.

Now, as far as the most stirring memories... I would say that seeing a

live shot on TV of the house that I used to live in on the point in East Grand Forks, covered up to the roof in water, turned my insides in knots.

1997. Her fiancee was from Leonard, ND. The day was generally very dark

and gloomy and there had been a freezing rain most of the day of the

wedding. Many of the grooms friends from Leonard were unable to come to

Fargo because of the roads and because some power lines had broken and they

had no electricity. By the time the wedding was over it was pouring. The

reception was held at the Red River Inn in Moorhead. The reception was very

nice and the wedding dance began. At about 10:00 PM, just as the wedding

dance began to really get moving the power went off and stayed off the rest

of the night. Most of the people who were not staying at the motel went

home. When I went to my car the locks were frozen shut and I had to get

into the van by the back door which was facing away from the rain and snow.

The roads were very bad and I remember going through Moorhead to get to

south Fargo because I was scared to go on the interstate. Our main

concern that night was that our power might go off and the sump pump would

be unable to work.

By the next morning there was a complete blizzard in progress. I had a

number of relatives in a motel in Moorhead and another in a motel near West

Acres. Among them were my brother and sister which I had not seem for

several years. Because of the weather we were unable to visit that day but

finally could on the following day. The interstates were blocked and they

finally were able to start home on Tuesday. It was a real mess but still a

very beautiful and eventful wedding.

Al Schneiter

But I also remember knowing that our flood story was far from over- there was a lot we still had to do. Helping our neighbors and friends it made me sick to my stomach thinking about how we had aldready done this (sandbagging) and that it didnt help, that these people house's could just as easily turn out just like ours- under eight and a half feet of murky, smelly water.

The real disaster occurred AFTER the flood. I do not live by the river, you can't even see it from my home. I live next to Mickelson ballpark on Oak Street and I was the only one to have damage in my neighborhood. The media and FEMA and others focused on Oak Grove and Ridgewood. I am half way between. Wherever I went for help a small detail prevented me from getting any. My 15 year old son lost his bedroom in the basement and my 11 year old son lost his privacy because we used his room for storage. The storm that occurred about that time damaged my roof and I had water damage in my kithen so bad that I wasn't able to use it for a year. I needed to get my home back and I wasn't getting anywhere with the beaurocrats so I used my credit cards, refinanced my home, spent my children's college money to get on with my life. It cost me $40,000 in repairs and I lost about that much in income. I contacted my congressmen, city officials, FEMA and insurance companies. I collected minimal amounts-they all were eager to point the finger to another entity as the one who should pay. The City of Fargo engineering department told me that judging by my address that I don't have to worry about flooding. Well, I have the bills, and pictures to prove otherwise; Oak street was diked to my driveway, the police and military were in my yard checking for leaks and vandalism often and Dennis Walaker was there almost daily. I also got flooded in 2001 but not as bad but again no help except for the availability of sandbags.

What have I learned? Disaster programs are meant for those who do nothing and if you make any effort to take resposibility it will work against you. Flood insurance is a joke, it isn't designed for the way we live in this area and is a rip-off (I bought it before the flood and it was a hinderance to other help and paid very little). The Red Cross is all fluff and no substance (I got a $32 grocery voucher, after reams of paperwork they said they couldn't help). The Salvation Army is truly the quiet providers of needed help, a real blessing. I recieved a lot of help from them with less than a half page application. THANK YOU!

How have I grown? At the time, I was a single parent of 2, doing well as a self-employed business owner. My children and I had counselling thanks to the Village and Lutheran Social services which helped a lot. I have been treated for anxiety and PTSD because of the rejection I have had to deal with after the flood. It has been a struggle. The bright spot in '97 was at the end of the year. I recieved a set of towels from the Holiday Clearing Bureau and my children recieved some generic toys. We were humbled by the kindness of strangers and it made our quiet, little Christmas quite special. The man I had been dating proposed to me later that evening and I know he really must love me. The boys and I went through an awful lot that year and most men would have run the other way. In August of 98 we were married while my home was not finished yet, a torn up yard, small living space with 2 teen-agers, negative net worth and my business almost destroyed. The financial burden of paying for the cost of the flood hangs over us like a cloud and we don't see an end to it in the near future. But; I am a lucky woman to have him in my life and so far we are facing it together the best we can.

Am I better prepared for a future flood? You bet. Next time we will sit on our deck, feet up, maybe even crack open a beer and watch the cold, icy gray water roll into our home. We will be better off. We won't have 5,000 soggy sandbags to remove by ourselves and we won't have reams of forms to fill out for false promises of help that only get our hopes up and later dash them due to a small technicality. Quite possibly because we did nothing we will get lots of help next time.

Dealing with "mother nature" such as a flood, is a challenge and is fair-everyone is treated the same-if you are in her way, you are going to get wet. It is the man-made disaster that causes the problems-we are not treated fairly- rules& regulations that don't fit, politcal agendas and egos that matter more than peoples lives really cause the damage that is difficult to repair.

RGID, THE RED EVER COMES UP TO THOSE RIVER LEVELS AGAIN WE WOULD CERTAINLY DO THINGS ALOT DIFFERENT. WE LEARNED FROM THOSE EXPERIENCES AND NOW I LOOK AROUND AT ALL THE VACANT LOTS WHERE HOUSES STOOD AND WONDER IF IT WAS NECESSARY FOR FEMA TO BUY OUT ALL THOSE HOMES. I CAN'T HELP WONDER THAT SOME OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO SOLD THEIR HOMES AND MOVED WISH THEY STILL LIVED IN THEM. I GUESS THAT IS SOMETHING WE WILL NEVER KNOW. MY THOUGHTS ALSO DRIFT TO ADA,GRAND FORKS, AND SOME OF THE OTHER COMMUNITIES HIT HARD

AND HOW MUCH WORSE THEY HAD IT IN COMPARISON TO FARGO. I CAN'T IMAGINE!

I LIKE TO THINK THOSE OF US INVOLVED HAVE COME ALONG WAY IN FIVE YEARS AND OPTIMISTICALLY, WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO AND FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT, MY THOUGHTS ALSO DRIFT TO THEM AND HOPE THINGS WILL GET BETTER OVER TIME.

How could i forget my wife and I slepping in shifts watching dikes and wondering if we were going to have a home at the end of the flood if it ever would end.

Having to help our freinds who lost there homes to the flood and then asking them to try to help save our own.

No I could live the rest of my life and not even beigin to want to start draging up all of the fear and unknown from that time in my life.

We were fortunate and did not lose our home, we did however lose a lot of freinds who have since moved away, also we live in constant fear that it could happen again.

The water level became too high for the students to attend school, so we shut down until the water level subsided. The same day that the school decided to do this,

they asked for volunteers to watch the school's dike that had been built by the students and staff behind the school by the football field. Well, I as well as some of my friends

and my brother signed up to do this. I'll tell you that some of my best memories were created working the dike and sharing stories and finding out things about the teachers that we

had never heard of. Now, this continued on for about 2 weeks, because the water level only rose, and so we stayed out of school and kept at the dike duty. It would consist of a four-hour shift

although many of us happily worked more than our shift. Some pulled off triple shifts, and one kid was there for 24 hours straight. Well, as you probably already know, we lost the school to the Red,

and it was the shift before mine, so I was called up when a neighbors dike first broke. By the time I arrived at the school, water was coming in from all angles, and it was a loss. We tried to save the gym,

as that was the driest building at the time, but that, too, would be taken. Many people felt the pain the river brought with it when it came over the wall, as well as the chill of that pain. The water was freezing,

so cold in fact that I could no longer walk in it, and had to be carried by a classmate of mine to a safe distance.

I fought the flood in many different places that year, I remember going to any place where assistance was needed, and seeing tons of people there, neighbors, friends, and people just like myself, just happy to help out.

Oak Grove was just one place where I shared my time, but when the dike broke, I felt no different than someone losing their home, because that was home to us.

The flood of 97 was just the start of bad luck for our family. We worked all summer on cleaning up my parents house in Breck. Finally the last week in July we had a emotional auctin sale. My parents had decided to sell their housee of 50 years. On the closing day of the selling of the house we thought we would celebrate and close that chapter of our lives. But once again something happened. My husband of 15 years became sick, and was diagnosed with a orphan diease. We had fought very hard with radiation and chemo and he is now in remission. I think the Flood of 97 has taught us to live each day to the fullest and appreicate everything you have no matter how small or big. Also don't be a pack rat!

My husband and I, along with dozens of volunteers built and rebuilt our dike. You see, we live right along the river just south of town and though we didn't know it. We were fighting a losing battle. The dike held for two weeks. Daily shoring up, and a 24 hour watch were not going to save us. When the river ceased to move along its normal west to east meandering path and came directly at our dike, it truly was only a matter of time before all hell would break loose and we would be on our way out. Ironically our dike went on April 15th. Tax day. A day most people hate to begin with, a day that I wish would just disappear from the calendar altogether. It was just after 8 a.m. my husband had been up all night and it was my turn to watch. My turn to listen to the dozen or so pumps down in the well behind the dike. My turn to scream bloody murder when all the pumps ceased and the wall caved in on itself. I opened the door to the basement and watched a tidal wave of water sluice through the family room. The waves churned up against the walls, anything that had been left downstairs now rested beneath more than 6 feet of muddy freezing water. We had been an island, now we were a statistic.

You lose more than property when something like this happens. Confidence goes and is replaced by distrust. I'm not bitter, really I'm not. But neither am I the same.

As a resident of West Fargo, the Sheyenne Diversion kept us dry. However other family members weren't so lucky. My parents were residents of East Grand Forks,MN. In January 1997 my Dad had a stroke and ended up in a nursing home in Grand Forks. My Mom with visiting family members would visit him daily.

On April 18th my brother and Mom went across the bridge to the West side and never got back. The bridge was closed and the water took over-raising to a level of 16 inches of water on the main floor of her house and destroying contents of the house and the "Red Olds" in the garage.

April 19th dawned and I received a call, my brother said "I'm moving the folks to Fargo-give me names of 3 nursing homes. It looks like the nursing home is going to close up here." With the assistance of the Director in Grand Forks and the good will of Bethany Homes in Fargo the plan went into action. Dad got out of the nursing home and made the trip down enjoying getting out and seeing the expanse of water on the farmland. My brother and Mom of course were nervous. Helicopters moved other nursing home residents later that day and the next to homes all around the area.

Once Dad was settled everyone came to my house where I had supper ready for them and for my sister, here husband and their daughter, who were also flooded out. They came from East Grand Forks via Crookston and over the Red River in Fargo. They stayed in West Fargo for a month at a local motel. Once the water subsided they went back to clean up. They have since built a new home in the county but the memory of the hard work of fighting the floodwaters and cleaning up afterwards will never leave them.

Growing up Lutheran "way out in ND" as my husband jokingly states, I really did not learn much religion-wise, even though I attended church and Sunday School on a regular basis. Thus, as an adult, the TCEs (those who go to church only on Thanksgiving-Christmas-Easter) had me beat by a mile! While I've always believed in God, prior to 1997, I attended church services 1-2 x/year, if that & I certainly didn't participate in other church activities. I had always believed that while God was "there", we were in control of our destiny & what happened in our lives. I couldn't have been more wrong. Always a skeptic, God showed me who is really in control! I used to be a "professional worrier" about many, many things. Shortly after returning home when the flood waters receded, I just naturally found myself worrying about very little. At the time, although it felt like there were a multitude of things that I should be worrying about with reconstruction & where the funds were going to come from, I didn't worry. Rather, I learned to be tenacious thanks to the incredible amount of government red tape involved in disaster relief. I had previously been one to always take the easy way out & to not see a task to completion if any part of it was difficult. In our home/farmsite, I had finally found something worthwhile to fight for. It was a difficult fight, which felt like a chronic uphill battle, but today we have many, many blessings to count. While I still worry on occasion, I strive to expend more energy in prayer than in worry.

It was so impressive to go to our church, Immanuel Lutheran, in Hendrum in the spring of 1997, as attending the worship service were not only those in the community, but the many national guard staff that were there to assist us.

I've always been a helper in life. It was extremely humbling to need help as my husband (Dean), daughter (Desirae-age 5 at that time) & I exhaustedly landed in the hands of the Salvation Army. We were essentially taken by the hand to assist us with our immediate needs of food, lodging & personal items. We were displaced for 6 weeks & were extremely fortunate to be among those in a family suite in a motel, even with a pool!

Once we returned home, to a huge mess of cleaning & reconstruction, we were inundated by a multitude of groups of volunteers who desired to help. Being a skeptic, I always thought that if someone wanted to help, there must be something they wanted in return. We were much to exhausted to have anything to give in return. I came to realize, however, that we gave folks the opportunity to be helpful. I shed many, many tears upon finding out that folks came to volunteer in our home just because they wanted to help & expected nothing in return. Not only were their physical strengths appreciated, but also their listening ears, hugs & words of comfort. I have many fond memories of groups that we shared food with at the picnic table in the back yard.

While I had considered rural Hendrum MN home since 1984, prior to the 1997 flood, I considered it as somewhere great to live; just maybe not forever. After investing blood, sweat & tears into defending our farmsite, side by side with my husband, against the flood, I'm here to stay! The camaraderie that I felt in our community was incredible as we worked together trying to save one another's homes, the community in general or just shared tears and hugs.

Valley nursing home when the Ada nursing home flooded, then my wife and I

picked my mother and my sister up in Twin Valley and took them to my sister's home in Grand Forks. Her home was flooded two weeks later and my other sister in Gary and her husband went to Grand Forks to get them, but

When the snows of a winter that buried the land

were transformed into fluid by the sun,

streams turned to rivers, and rivers to lakes

with a vengeance that made the brave run.

As Red Rivers that fork at a place called "The Point"

brought two towns that were Grand to their knees,

the young and the old fled the watery giant

with imprinted, profound memories.

Though Nature's assault with its furious blows

drove the residents out of their homes,

a drive to return and reclaim what was lost

was a force in their souls and their bones.

Mournful expressions and torrents of tears

were the norm as the weeping wounds healed,

replaced but so slowly by mouthings of hope

and reprieves from fears deeply concealed.

Ever true as an outcome of adversity,

the affected will carry some scars,

but they also have grown in faith and belief

in the maker of far-away stars.

For dreams won't be shattered by fate's fickle touch

or the future disturbed by the past,

if a difficult life event helps us to learn

the true value of things that will last.

Our daughter, Meredith, was a senior at South High that year. She had just started dating another senior at South and, I think, already falling in love. Going to prom with Eric was very exciting. Unfortunately, prom week was also the big fight the flood week.

Saturday morning of the prom, it appeared that our dike would hold, the river had crested and it had quit raining and snowing. We have this great picture of our daughter and her date all sequined and tuxed with big smiles standing against our sandbag dike with the Red River close behind resembling a huge lake. At that point, the flood was forgotten. It was a moment to share with her that I will never forget.

Some of our dikes didn't hold & the river rushed into our homes

Our neighbors helped us & their love rushed into our hearts

We cried when the battle was lost