A River Ran Through It
By Mitch Berg
Hard to believe it’s been ten years since the Grand Forks flood.
To give credit where it’s due, Nick Coleman writes an excellent column on the subject:
The apocalypse came with ice and fire. I was among the many journalists who covered the disaster and I will never forget the sensation of standing in freezing water in hip boots while ashes fell on my head from the sky. All we needed was Charlton Heston to send Egyptian chariots into the water and I would’ve sworn we were all extras in a remake of “The Ten Commandments.”
Ten years later, it still seems like something biblical happened.
Read the whole thing, and check out the Grand Forks Herald’s coverage of the anniversary.
April 19th, 2007 at 6:34 am
I was working in downtown St. Paul at the time. I remember walking down to Kellog every day to check out the high water mark on the south wall of the Mississippi. I had to change parking lots, because the one I’d been parking in was under water.
April 19th, 2007 at 6:41 am
Yeah, I remember taking my kids down to that little promenade in front of the old Department of Revenue building and seeing the street sign and signal at Jackson and Shepard barely above water, and that huge plug of sandbags at the underpass keeping the water from coming from Warner up to Fourth. Amazing stuff to see.
April 19th, 2007 at 7:07 am
Man, that was a fast 10 years. Living in Warroad, Grand Forks is our “shopping town” and we feel great affection for it. It was horrible, but they did a great job of rebuilding and pulling themselves together.
April 19th, 2007 at 8:08 am
I don’t seem to recall anyone standing on their roof in Grand Forks with a sign reading “We need help!” I guess they were all too busy filling sandbags.
April 19th, 2007 at 8:26 am
I noticed that he cited a “World Class Hockey Center” as one of the reasons GF has survived. Hem, wasn’t he calling for it’s destruction just a month ago because of the imbedded logos?
I think he wrote a great piece otherwise. I still have family there, my brother being a retired police offocer who organized the moving of police headquarters three times as the waters rose. More of my family are in Warren Minnesota which suffered three floods in 12 months si I know these are tough people.
As to Linclon Park, even more eary is the driveways and sidewalks to nowhere since the houses are gone.
April 19th, 2007 at 8:35 am
Mitch,
OT but following the theme of Where’s the Time Gone.
Are the premium ads in your sidebar *ever* going to be updated? I mean, more power to you for deriving a little extra jing where you can, but honestly, MSNBC seems not to realize that their material is long past the sell by date. We consumers need fresh product.
It’s been so long I don’t even remember what Merle Haggard did to upset everybody.
April 19th, 2007 at 8:40 am
Grand Forks/East Grand Forks has really bounced back strong. And the ones who stuck around after the waters subsided? Those people are tough. They aren’t going anywhere.
Lots of wide-open land up there, too. That area is awesome.
April 19th, 2007 at 8:45 am
mike,
It’s a “Blogads” problem. I haven’t had time to fix things. Blah.
Paul,
I couple of my high school and college friends live there. I’m never-endingly amazed by their stories, and by them as well.
April 19th, 2007 at 9:12 am
I like how they call a “beverage-to-go” a “roadie.” Ha ha. Before I got hipped to that term, a roadie was a big dude who carried amps and drums. Now when I think of a roadie, I think of a paper cup on the dashboard, 80 proof. Ha.
April 19th, 2007 at 10:08 am
Kermit said: “I don’t seem to recall anyone standing on their roof in Grand Forks with a sign reading “We need help!” I guess they were all too busy filling sandbags.”
Gee, Kermit, that’s quite an observation. I’d be intersted to know your thoughts on what exactly is different about the people in New Orleans when compared to the people in Grand Forks.
April 19th, 2007 at 10:48 am
“Gee, Kermit, that’s quite an observation. I’d be intersted to know your thoughts on what exactly is different about the people in New Orleans when compared to the people in Grand Forks.”
They’re pussies?
April 19th, 2007 at 11:55 am
Well, not quite, Major Major. The question is why are they, in your words, “pussies”? People who – in Kermit’s mind – ask for a hand rather than lending one. What could be the thing that Kermit thinks is the big difference between these two groups of people?
April 19th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
It’s ironic that Mr. Chainyanker blows past the fact that Major is yanking the Clown to sail directly to an accusation of racism.
A couple of *real* differences? The biggest difference that I can see is that, since it was in a Red state during a Blue administration, the Democrats didn’t try to get any mileage trying to bump the blame for *everything* up to the feds.
Another? The ND and MN state governments held up their ends of the emergency plan, a way that Co’NO and LA didn’t. The flood didn’t inflict *quite* the trauma on the regional infrastructre that the hurricane did – and the Air Force Base, outside the flood plain, was there and provided both trained people and a safe staging site for relief that they didn’t have in southern LA after Katrina (which was, although the media has ignored it, why FEMA kept its supplies and people in the northern part of Louisiana – to avoid getting it all blown to pieces and washed away).
Oh, because people in the Forx were white? Dunno, Clown. It’s cheap, cheesy and inflammatory, and hence your style, but you’ll need to put a little more behind the statement than a squirt of that novelty flower on your lapel. And if it WERE the case, and we’re operating under the Kanye Doctrine, apparently it’d be because Bill Clinton hated black people – right?
April 19th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
You raise some important differences, Mitch, even though Angryclown doesn’t agree with you on every particular. The biggest contast, which you allude to, is that in New Orleans, a big city, the scope of the disaster was much greater than in Grand Forks, very much not a big city.
For some reason, Kermie concentrates on the difference between the New Orleanians begging for help from their rooftops and the plucky, hard-working citizens of Grand Forks. Angryclown is confident it’s not race Kermit lunges for to explain the two disasters. I bet he blames the debilitating effects of zydeco music.
April 19th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
AC’s first paragraph is correct. Size of city and inflicted area. But also would it be correct to day that New Orleans was kind of a basket case to begin with? There have been comparisons to how Halieh Barbers Mississippi handled the disaster compared to the very blue New Orleans.
April 19th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
There’d be a “similarity”; zydeco and polka are shockingly similar.
April 19th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
Size of city and inflicted area. But also would it be correct to day that New Orleans was kind of a basket case to begin with?
That, three hundred years of corrupt and willfully-inefficient government, and Blanco and Nagin being not especially gifted leaders or administrators to begin with; NOLA started with a bunch of strikes against it.
But remember – while Grand Forks is a much smaller city (50,000 before the flood), that gives it some disadvantages, too; fewer resources, harder to reach. I can tell you from experience; when the Red is flooding, getting to ANYWHERE up there is a pain in the ass. When it’s flooding AND freezing AND huge chunks of ice are floating along with the rest of the debris, it’s almost biblical.
It’s much smaller than NOLA, but by regional standards, it’s a big city (3rd largest in ND). Picture the mid-atlantic states dealing with Boston being completely flooded…
April 19th, 2007 at 2:12 pm
Also, Clinton was competent. Bush, not so much.
Heh, heh. “Third largest in North Dakota.” You know that means Boston is about 10 times as big as Grand Forks? New York, by the way, is about 16 times as big as Boston.
New Orleans, pre-flood, had a poplulation pretty close to Boston’s. How does Grand Forks really rank? About the same as if Chicopee, Mass. (about 55,000 pop.) flooded.
April 19th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
If AngryKKKlown could contain his own bigotry he may have actually seen the words “I guess they were all too busy filling sandbags”. One region is used to hard work, the other is used to government subsidy. If you want to play the race card, knock yourself out. Just stop trying to fit me for a white sheet. Red is my color. Blue is ok, too.
April 19th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
“Red is my color.”
Isn’t that the color the Grand Wizard wears?
Sorry, Kermit. I couldn’t resist.
April 19th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
Yeah, it’s the work ethic, Kerm. Not the fact that one city’s ten times as big as the other and that the disaster in New Orleans was much worse. Just wondering what you suppose the people in New Orleans might have done with the sandbags.
Seems to me the farmers in your part of the country are pretty used to getting government subsidies. But I guess it’s not welfare when you “hard-working” types get it.
April 19th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
Also, Clinton was competent.
We never really had to find out, now, did we?
Heh, heh. “Third largest in North Dakota.” You know that means Boston is about 10 times as big as Grand Forks? New York, by the way, is about 16 times as big as Boston.
Attaway, Clown! You caught that bit of irony of scale on the first try! I knew you had it in you!
Yes, North Dakota as a whole has a third as many people as Brooklyn, and (INSERT MORE REMINDERS OF THE EXTREME DISPARITY OF SCALE HERE). Which was my point, Vobo; in a sparsely populated area, the loss of a city like Grand Forks was a HUGE blow.
My point, once you put your Information Please Almanac down, is that a region with perhaps 200,000 people living within 150 miles is going to have, relatively speaking, a HUGE impact from losing a city of that size, and the region has commensurately few resources – mainly people – to deal with it all.
April 19th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
Nicely executed, Yoss.
April 19th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
Seems to me the farmers in your part of the country are pretty used to getting government subsidies. But I guess it’s not welfare when you “hard-working” types get it.
this is a red-letter (hee hee) day! First you joined with the NRA on instant background checks, and now you want to repudiate the Democrats’ longstanding support of farm subsidies!
(Notice the Congressional delegations from both of the Dakotas, and the MN Rep from the Red River Valley; all Democrats. While farmers are conservative, they’re also pragmatic. Just like New Yorkers; they vote for the guy that’ll bring home the pork).
Stick with us, Vobo. You’ll be a conservative yet!
April 19th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
So really the smaller the disaster, the bigger the disaster.
I admire your complete lack of self-consciousness in arguing the patently absurd. It’s a valuable skill.
But I can’t let your Brooklyn statement go unchallenged. There are about 2.5 million people in the Borough of Kings. At Thanksgiving, NoDak sits at the kids’ table with Staten Island.
April 19th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
Really, Mitch. So it was the small number of farm state Democrats – a minority of the minority party for six years of the Bush residency – who had all the power. Not the Republicans. I never knew. I thought that controlling two houses of Congress, the White House and the Supreme Court meant you could pass laws and stuff. Too busy losing wars, I suppose.
April 19th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
Wow, Clown. There’s enough strawmen there to starve every crow west of the Ohio River.
April 19th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
Envious?
April 19th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
No, plagued with crows.
April 19th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
“Isn’t that the color the Grand Wizard wears?”
I have no idea. Apparently AC is far more conversant in clan apparel than I. You two startin up a klavern?
April 19th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
We all know what the difference was between Grand Forks and New Orleans. Clinton used the magical remote control in the oval office to make things all better in GF. But Bush was too stupid to figure how to use the magical remote, hence the problems in 2005. That and Haliburton had something to do with it. KKKarl Rove gave them a no bid contract to help New Orleans out, with Big Oil’s approval.
So there you have it. Bush caused Global Warming so we would have more hurricanes, therefore he could give contracts to Haliburton to make his friends rich.
Hey, I could write for one of those free weekly newspapers in South Mpls (or Highland Park).
April 19th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
Ah, what the hell…the work ethic in Grand Forks and the area DID have something to do with it. You go south in the US and look at the trash in the streets, yards, and roadways. You go north and you won’t see that kind of thing…maybe a few 12-pack empties thrown out after they stuck all the bottles or cans in the cooler, but that’s about it. The occassional yard that makes you want to stop and stare at the sheer MESS of it all, but it’s certainly not the norm. The southern states from coast to coast are one big trash can.
Up here you find fields neatly laid out, yards kept nice, roadsides picked up. Respect for each other and a work ethic that can’t be beat. Make of it what you will.
April 19th, 2007 at 6:14 pm
Oh! “Scary Colleen” is another racist bigot Klansperson because she can’t appreciate diversity. She thinks there is some sort of inherent value to order, self respect and self reliance. I bet she and her neighbors all sneak into the basement and bow down to pictures of Jesus, Hitler and Bush.
How was that, AC? A little too over the top?
April 19th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
It must be said that part of the reason the folks in Grand Forks handled the ’97 flood so well is that they’ve had a considerable amount of practice.
Here’s the monument indicating the high water mark in 1997, along with several other “Floods of the Century”:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Redrivergrandforkscairn.jpg
Note the five Great Floods within roughly 100 years. Think that’s bad? Here’s what a Non Flood year (2006) looks like:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Grand_forks_flood_obelisk_April_2006.jpg
The Red flows north. Melting MN snow feeds the river which then meets Canadian ice. Once the banks are topped, there’s nothing to stop the water in either direction for 50 miles. I don’t know if you can credit the German/Scandinavian work ethic for Grand Forks’ persistence, or just plain old obstinance.
I’m not sure how to describe folks who choose to build their city below the water to begin with:
http://www.gnocdc.org/maps/elevation.html
April 19th, 2007 at 8:09 pm
test
April 19th, 2007 at 8:23 pm
It must be said that part of the reason folks in Grand Forks handled the 1997 flood so well is that they have had an awful lot of practice at it.
Here’s the monument indicating the high water mark of the “Flood of the Century” in 1997:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Redrivergrandforkscairn.jpg
Note the five Great Floods within a little over 100 years (3 within 15). What’s a “Non Flood” year look like? Here’s last April:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Grand_forks_flood_obelisk_April_2006.jpg
The Red flows north. Melting MN snows feed the river which then meets Canadian ice. Once the banks are topped, there’s nothing to stop the water for 50 miles in either direction. I’m not sure you can credit the German/Scandinavian work ethic for Grand Forks’ persistence, or just plain old obstinance.
Then again, what do you call people who don’t wait for the flood, and choose instead to build their city below the water?
http://www.gnocdc.org/maps/elevation.html
April 19th, 2007 at 8:26 pm
??
Either two of my posting attempts have vanished, or there will be an eventual double post.
Apologies if it’s the latter.
April 19th, 2007 at 8:46 pm
I liked that, Kermit-that was pretty darn good! My neighbors, though, are my unrepentant uncles and they bow down to not a one of those three you mentioned-ha! Plus, we don’t have a basement….Other than that, right on the money!
April 19th, 2007 at 9:22 pm
Mike,
Comments with links go into a moderation queue. If I’m not checking the queue (like, say, if I’m not on the computer), it may take a while.
April 19th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
“Comments with links go into a moderation queue.”
Yep. We only gets zapped if we lean too heavily on the biological metaphors. Or get into pissing contests. Or link to naughty sites.
Thanks, C. I’ve been taking notes.
April 20th, 2007 at 4:49 am
Kermit said: “Oh! “Scary Colleen” is another racist bigot Klansperson because she can’t appreciate diversity. She thinks there is some sort of inherent value to order, self respect and self reliance. I bet she and her neighbors all sneak into the basement and bow down to pictures of Jesus, Hitler and Bush.
How was that, AC? A little too over the top?”
A little, Kerm. I don’t think Scary Colleen has ever mentioned any admiration for Hitler. She is clearly a big fan of Bush and of a fairly twisted interpretation of Jesus’ teachings. She has also, in this forum, called African Americans an offensive name, that I won’t repeat because Mitch has censored it in the past. So Colleen is not one of the people I pay much attention to on racial matters.
April 20th, 2007 at 4:52 am
Mike said: “The Red flows north. Melting MN snow feeds the river which then meets Canadian ice. Once the banks are topped, there’s nothing to stop the water in either direction for 50 miles. I don’t know if you can credit the German/Scandinavian work ethic for Grand Forks’ persistence, or just plain old obstinance.”
Um, that would be stupidity, Mike. The want of the good sense that motivates most people to come inside from the rain. Also a financial drain for taxpayers like me, who have to pay to subsidize federal flood insurance for people who choose to live on a flood plain.
April 20th, 2007 at 5:29 am
Um, that would be stupidity, Mike…Also a financial drain for taxpayers like me,
Ah.
But New Orleans, mostly below sea-level, wasn’t?
April 20th, 2007 at 5:33 am
If you’re reduced to arguing with statements that Angryclown didn’t make, he can only assume you found the rest of his post completely sensible.
April 20th, 2007 at 5:53 am
For the record, I have not called any black person an “offensive” name-I agreed with what another poster said about some thugs in N Minneapolis. Period. Just a few days ago I think I read the words “sticks and stones” posted by someone…hmmm…and in case anyones is wondering, it wasn’t the dreaded “n” word that I agreed with. Talk about “scary” eh?
And a “fairly twisted form of Jesus’ teachings”? Baptist? I guess if you actually BELIEVE in Jesus, that’s twisted. Criminy, what an ass.
April 20th, 2007 at 5:58 am
You seem to believe that Jesus hates African Americans and likes war. Twisted.
No, it wasn’t the N word. You agreed with a characterization of blacks as “porch monkeys.” We’ll see if Mitch can handle that. Pretty hateful in my book.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:06 am
We’ll see if Mitch can handle that.
I don’t like any form of casual bigotry, whether “porch monkeys” or “walmart-shopping NASCAR-watching drooling cousin-f*ckers”.
Same thing, really.
Offsetting penalties. Proceed with the game.
April 20th, 2007 at 11:37 am
Zing!
April 20th, 2007 at 11:55 am
Colleen is understandably cheerful to learn that Mitch considers her on the same level as Angryclown. Angryclown, less so.