jk (not rowling) makes the news: flood update

I was pleased to see Jane Kurtz’s River Friendly, River Wild featured on the front of the Life section in today’s Forum of Fargo-Moorhead. I’d blogged about this a week ago, hoping to draw attention to Jane’s wonderful book, feeling strongly it will be a healing tool for parents wanting to help their children work through their grief and feelings surrounding our recent flooding. Read that entry here, and today’s story here. There’s also a giveaway of the book going on at the Forum’s Moms forum community, so make sure you take a look at that here.

Speaking of the flooding, after a very intense couple weeks talking here about very little besides the flooding of the Red River of the North and other tributaries of our area, I pulled away from the subject in order to give it a little rest and focus on the lead-up to Easter. But now, here we are again, awaiting the second crest. Even if my mentioning of the flood has been sparse in recent days, that’s not to say it’s all gone away, that the dire concern of a few weeks back has just disappeared. Certainly, we were blessed with a breather — some dry days and sunshine. But now, we ready ourselves for the final test of this natural disaster.

During the crux of the tension a few weeks ago, the law enforcement of our area began getting serious about keeping folks away from the dikes that had been built to help save our city from a complete washout. One of the first people arrested was described as a 40-year-old woman who’d been out with her camera taking photos of the dike. These camera-wielding spectators have been called “gawkers,” and are not looked upon too kindly in our city these days. When I read of the arrest, I shuddered. My family and friends will tell you that I’m rarely out in public without my camera. Thankfully, the person was listed as a resident of Moorhead, not Fargo. No, it was not me, in case anyone was wondering! I’d like to think I have some scruples about such things. That said, I did take some photos at the Dome of the sandbagging, and a few around town before things got really desperate. And I was out a few days back with my camera, too. Much as I understand the need to keep people away from the areas that need to be secured, I guess the journalist in me remains alive and well. And I think it’s important our story is recorded. Sometimes, that is best done by the professionals, but we amateur photographers have our own views, and I’d like to think our unique perspectives count for something, too. We can be a part of telling the story. We just have to use our heads about it. So I’m including some of those views below. This set shows my approach to one of the main dikes, and what I witnessed as I peered over the top. Again, this was several days back, and it’s likely the levels are higher now.

The approach…

Getting closer…

And, here we are, over the top…

This one (below) is my favorite, partly because of the critter in the middle (do you see it?) but also, the reflection of the trees on the water…

And of course, we are inundated by these signs of a flood still in progress:

Beyond the photos, which are quite limited, really, I will say that our city is nowhere near back to normal. There are mud hills where none existed before. Roads that once were part of our everyday functioning, helping us get from here to there, have been completely cut off:

Most dramatic and symbolic to me, the Centennial Elementary sports fields, which once hosted my daughter’s soccer practices, are completely gone. That whole area has been gutted and is one big mud pit, surrounded by lines of yellow mud-digging tractors. I think of the meticulous work that took place to make those fields green, ready for soccer players and kids out at recess, and how quickly it all was dismantled. This is just one slice of the “undoing of our doing” that I’ve been able to observe in recent weeks.Though it is, indeed, spring, green has mostly given way to brown around our town at the moment. And even though the river levels had been receding consistently, you’ll find very few homes where contents that had been brought to upper levels have been moved back. A friend who was in harm’s way (and only narrowly escaped losing her home) seems to be undergoing some kind of post-traumatic stress syndrome. She’s still having a hard time concentrating, her house remains in disarray, life is in an upheaval. And even if she were able to change the house chaos in the blink of an eye, I believe that the psychological recovery of this is going to take a very long time. We all know that even when the major news networks lose interest in our stories, that doesn’t mean they cease. So, right now we are both still in the middle of it as well as in the aftermath of the first crest. It is a very tenuous sort of place to be, but you also sense that some people have been able to at least start moving forward, pushing toward normalcy, and that is having an effect on others who aren’t quite there.

The effects will continue for a long time. One of them is the cancellation of many, many events that had been scheduled pre-flood, and postponement of some of those events, which makes for a very packed next couple months. And even with those things that have been rescheduled, you hear organizers say, “Well, depending on what happens with the flood…” We don’t seem certain about much of anything these days. We are still not completely exhaling, in other words.

As for me and my house…right now, we’re in a position to get through this in relatively good shape. My youngest seems to have it all in perspective. In just two days, he will celebrate his fourth birthday. Memories of a flood escape to Minnesota are in the distant past already as he envisions a Batman birthday cake and time with Chuck E. Cheese. So for now, I am trying to stay focused on those things right in front of me — even those that wear a black cape and ride a Batmobile. Mere distractions? Perhaps. But necessary nonetheless.