Attending a Flood Recovery Fair in Bemidji
By Christina Koenig
May 1, 1997

Make sure the gas and power are off.

Photograph the inside and outside of the premises before doing any work.

If the door sticks at the top, watch out for a ceiling that's about to cave in.

Those are just some of the items on a cleanup check list given to flood victims in Bemidji at the People to People Recovery Effort Education Fair. The event was designed to arm flood victims with basic information before heading home to the reality of a massive cleanup. Minnesota Public Radio's Christina Koenig reports.

AS WATER LEVELS IN THE RED RIVER VALLEY slowly fall, more and more people from East Grand Forks have been allowed back into their neighborhoods. So only a fraction of the people expected at the education fair showed up. Most of the people milling about the different information stations are those whose homes are still submerged and off-limits.

Flood victims clustered around experts to hear about car repair, contamination, electrical hazards, and controlling the growth of mold.

Grand Forks resident Georgia Flaat knows exactly what she'll do when she gets back into her house.

TAKE OUT PICTURES THAT WERE ON THE WALLS AND THE SLIDES, THAT'S NUMBER ONE. [IS THERE A SPECIAL IMAGE YOU WANT?] BABY PICTURES OF OUR FOUR BOYS. THEY WERE SUBMERGED.

Flaat was able to pick up some pamphlets and talk to some experts about restoring the wet photographs.

Her husband Lowell Flaat has had days to think about financial and insurance records, clothes, record albums, and other items that were ruined. He says he would do a few things differently if the flood came again.

I THINK WE WOULD HAVE STAYED LITTLE LONGER, AND GOT MORE THINGS OUT. EVERY DAY THINK OF SOMETHING THAT YOU LEFT, FRUSTRATION FROM THAT. I SPENT THREE DAYS TRYING TO HELP A FRIEND, AND WE DIDN'T GET MUCH OUT OF OUR OWN BASEMENT.

Many of the seminar's topics are as straightforward as sanitizing your home and deciding what to keep and what to throw away. But disaster experts are also trying to prepare people for the stress of going back. Counselors are worried by the relatively small numbers taking advantage of mental health services. Counselors say people are telling amazing stories, but not expressing too many emotions. They say it can be hard for people who have been kept away from the destruction to believe it's real.

North Country Health Services Chaplain Mark Papke-Larson says the practical subjects of the educational fair have an emotional side to them.

FROM MY PERSPECTIVE AS A CHAPLAIN, THESE ISSUES ARE ALL IN TERMS OF LOSS AND GRIEF. HOW DO YOU MAKE THE DECISION OF WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO THROW AWAY; AND WHEN YOU FIGURE OUT YOU CAN'T SAVE SOMETHING THAT WAS REALLY IMPORTANT TO YOU, THAT'S THE MOMENT WHEN YOU REALIZE "MY LIFE HAS CHANGED"

Some flood victims are ready to acknowledge they've been through a lot and have much more to face in the weeks ahead. Sue Johnson says she made it out of her "shell-shocked" phase and was starting to feel more clear-headed. But now she says she's rapidly moving into sensory overload from all of the information and procedures she needs to follow during cleanup. She says she needs to get her three children settled, her household running, and her career back on track, and she's beginning to feel the time crunch.

WE HAVE TO GET IN; WE HAVE TO GET CLEANED, STRUCTURE, GET RESOURCES, TIME LINES; SUMMERS ARE SHORT IN MINNESOTA, AND BEING READY FOR NEXT WINTER AND DEALING WITH ALL THIS NOW.

Time is one worry. Ron Mossefin has another.

MONEY. WE'VE HEARD ALL THESE PROMISES OF HELP BUT UNTIL IT'S THERE I WON'T BELIEVE IT.

The next the phase of the People To People Recovery project is matching up volunteers with flood families to help with long-term cleanup efforts.

Return to Flood of 1997.