Pat Finken - City Magazine

How is the Minot flood
recovery going?
Janine Kessler: I was there to help
gut and clean a house. People said it was
difficult to find everyday items like ice
and bread in the stores.
Becki Anhorn: We have 160 teachers
who lost all their teaching materials and
many who lost classrooms and schools.
Melissa Perry: Recovery from the
flood is a slow process. It’s a moldy,
muddy, stinky mess. I’ve never seen
anything so destructive, nor could
I imagine the damage emotionally,
financially and physically it can do to the community.
Mike Gunsch: I work for a demolition team. It’s
terrible! The company sends a crew to a different
house every day with hammers and crowbars, and
they tell us everything has to come out. All that’s left
after we’re done is the wood studs. I’m worn out from
working up here.
Exclusively at
FYI
Sound Off
By Candace Brannan
Sarah Hicks: The flood recovery
process has been much like the flood--
a rollercoaster of emotions. We decided
to build an addition on to our house
since we’ll owe more than it’s worth,
and will need to live in it awhile. The city has been
difficult to deal with in getting the necessary building
permit (we have one now).
I see many people not doing much more than
a simple “gut” of their homes in our neighborhood.
We are at least a mile from the river, so there is little
chance we would be bought out. We don’t feel as
though we are safe from another flood, but we also
have no choice but to rebuild. We hope the city, the
Corps of Engineers and the managers of the dams in
Canada will learn from this and will keep us better
protected in the future.
Candace Brannan is an English teacher at Mandan High
School who loves poetry, dancing in the living room, and
most of all, her six kids.
Cedric Theel Toyota