Home Sweet Trailer
By Tim Pugmire
May 22, 1997

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Hundreds of camper trailers are moving into communities along the Red River as temporary shelter for flood victims.

Most of the trailers are being set up in peoples' yards while they repair their houses. Outside Grand Forks, North Dakota, a community of refugees have taken over a small campground. Some campers expect a short stay, but others say it could be several months before they have a permanent home again. Minnesota Public Radio's Tim Pugmire reports: 

Workers shovel the soil under a camper trailer and level the ground before placing the concrete slab used to anchor these temporary shelters. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is providing the new 30-foot trailers for short-term living space as flood victims repair their damaged houses. Most are placed in driveways or backyards. About two dozen FEMA trailers are here at the Grand Forks Campground, and more are on the way. FEMA Spokesman Sam Logan says each trailer has room to sleep a family.

THEY WILL SLEEP SIX. IT MAY BE KIND OF CROWDED WITH SIX, BUT IT BEATS SLEEPING IN YOUR CAR OR SOMEWHERE ELSE. AND THE PEOPLE WHO'VE BEEN WIPED OUT BY THIS FLOOD REALLY NEED HELP, BECAUSE HOUSING WAS SCARCE TO BEGIN WITH UP HERE. NOW THAT WE'VE HAD SO MANY PEOPLE DISPLACED, FEMA AND THE STATE ARE DOING BOUT EVERYTHING THEY CAN TO GET SOME TEMPORARY HOUSING FOR THESE PEOPLE.

This is the last day in the trailer for Rob Corbett and his family. Their house has electricity again and a new furnace so they're heading home after three weeks in the campground. Corbett says the trailer came in handy.

SHOWERS WERE SHORT, IT WASN'T LIKE HOME BY ANY MEANS, BUT IT WAS NICE. IT WAS GREATLY APPRECIATED. IT REALLY HELPED OUT A LOT. IT ALLOWS YOU TO WORK ON YOUR HOUSE AND STILL SLEEP IN THE CITY.

While the Corbetts get ready to leave, some elderly campground neighbors aren't sure how long they'll stay or where they'll go next. Beverly Ford and her husband Chester have been in their trailer two weeks. She says they don't know yet where they can live, but they won't be going home.

OUR BASEMENT FELL IN AND OUR WHOLE FIRST FLOOR WAS WATER, AND IT JUST RIPPLED. AND IT'S AN OLD HOUSE AND I DON'T THINK IT'S REALLY READY TO BE FIXED. THEY SAY IT'S 50% AND I THINK IT'S 100% OF WHAT THE PRICE OF THE HOUSE WOULD BE, YOU KNOW.

Camper trailers won't be adequate come winter, so FEMA is also moving three bedroom mobile homes into the region for long term housing needs. Officials are looking for sites to build mobile home parks in North Dakota and Minnesota. In Minnesota, FEMA has 204 camper trailers available. Only 63 are occupied. About 200 mobile homes are on the way to Minnesota. FEMA plans to build three new mobile home parks and use available space in existing parks. In Grand Forks, I'm Tim Pugmire, Minnesota Public Radio News.

Go to Flood of 1997.