Speaker 1:	00:01	I'm Mark Peterson External Affairs, and this is the moment 
Speaker 2:	00:05	podcast 
Speaker 3:	00:11	in 1997, the areas of northern Minnesota and North Dakota experience one of the largest flood events in us history while ultimately much of the Mississippi River basin and experience some level of flooding that year, no impacts were felt more harshly than in east grand forks, Minnesota in grand forks, North Dakota. In this episode of the Fema podcast, we'll look back 20 years after the flood on how the joint response and recovery partnership of local, state and federal resources took east grand forks, Minnesota from tragedy to community resilience. 
Speaker 2:	00:45	No, 
Speaker 3:	00:50	it seems like every day we turn on our TV, listen to the radio, read the papers, or see stories in our social media feeds of new and tragic natural disasters somewhere around the world or the country. In fact, often those stories are about the number one most common natural disaster in the US flooding 
Speaker 4:	01:10	underwater tonight. After the giant storm came, the rising water, over eighty percent of the city is flooded. 
Speaker 5:	01:19	This is ISO 55 at Nevada and seven mile on Detroit's east side, but you wouldn't know that by looking after heavy rainfall, the highway became a raging river of rainwater. 
Speaker 6:	01:30	The National Weather Service is using the word catastrophic flooding on the Sabine River here near Louisville is the highest it's been in 100 years. 
Speaker 3:	01:40	Those headlines from Hurricane Katrina, the 2014 Detroit floods and the most recent lower Mississippi valley floods of 2016 highlight how recent major flood events have gripped the headlines in different areas of the country with different dramatic effects. And while today's headlines continue to remind us of the magnitude of natural disasters, it's important to remember other major events and where are those communities are today. 
Speaker 1:	02:06	It's the worst flooding to hit the Red River valley in modern history and the president of the United States is about the view, the incredible devastation for himself. 
Speaker 3:	02:16	As with other historic events, statistics certainly help tell part of the story. In 1997 in northern Minnesota and North Dakota, more than 5,000,000,000 damages, word incurred 53,000 people were evacuated from their homes and 95 percent of the homes were affected. The Red River, which forms the border between Minnesota and North Dakota, rose more than 26 feet above flood stage in the area between grand forks, North Dakota and east grand forks, Minnesota. The area has historically seen it. Sheriff flooding the river flows from the southern half of Minnesota and North Dakota up into Canada through some of the flattest areas in the region, formed in a lake bed from an ancient glacial lake. The flat terrain is especially problematic and flood situations as flood waters usually spill over. The river's shallow banks creating massive overland flooding situations combined with frozen soil, rapid snow thaw and riverways Dan with large chunks of ice. 
Speaker 3:	03:16	Some floods have been catastrophic. In April of 1997 water, his deepest 54 feet spilled three miles inland, inundating virtually everything in the towns of grand forks, North Dakota and east grand forks, Minnesota and east grand forks. All of the city's 9,000 residents had to be evacuated while 90 percent of grand forks, 52,000 residents had to leave their homes and businesses to escape the rapidly rising water. The voices of those who survived responded, recovered, and ultimately built back. Both grand forks and east grand forks gives a much clearer picture of just how significant the 19, 97 flood was along the Red River of the north will tell the story of the recovery through the journey of east grand forks 
Speaker 7:	04:05	dicey. We had a 49 foot crush prediction 
Speaker 3:	04:10	that was current mayor of grand forks, Steve Gander. Mayor Gander experienced every stage of his towns devastation. In 1997, he had a successful optometry practice in town along with his family he lived in, worked in east grand forks. Ultimately, his home and business like many others was filled with damaging water as the initial flood waters rose in some way call to the flood fight. 
Speaker 7:	04:35	Hey, we've always done it. We've always kept the flood waters out of our streets. We'll do it again. 
Speaker 3:	04:44	As the waters rose, resources from the federal and state government were beginning to arrive, but as the town worked against historic river levels, the strain against the legacy levies and dykes took its toll. 
Speaker 7:	04:55	The water was just about at the top of the bags and we were tired and pretty badly sirens going off. You know, civil defense sirens had been going off for most of the last several days and we almost didn't hear them anymore cause they did signify an emergency somewhere in their community. After awhile you don't hear them so much. Well one of them was going and I was continuing to work and well one of the folks from the Army Corps of engineers came along and said, well, did you hear that siren? I said, Yep, don't worry about it. They've been going off for days. And he said, no, this one's different. Um, there's been a breach of bat. The Louis Murray Bridge, which was a mile or mile and a half up the river. And he said, there's a 20 foot wall of water coming up the back of the dike in a matter of minutes. This whole area will be underwater and so you'll have to leave the area immediately. 
Speaker 3:	05:49	Federal Coordinating officer was deployed to northwest Minnesota to lead the federal effort along with a team of Fema staff ultimately coordinate the federal resources that we're going to be brought to bear to respond to the flooding across the state. 
Speaker 8:	06:04	Essentially mobilized everybody's comments, 
Speaker 3:	06:18	Sherman ordination meetings where he realized the enormity of the flood in east grand forks while attending the meeting in City Hall. It was announced that water was coming in through the front door and everybody would have to leave 
Speaker 8:	06:33	the first floor of city hall with a couple of the trustees and a police officer came to the door and said, time to get out of here. The lobby's going. And I thought, well, this is going to be an interesting experience. So we had to leave and had headed east towards Crookston and they had to evacuate the, uh, police department, the fire department, City Hall. Essentially the city was done 
Speaker 3:	06:58	down under describe the damage to the town. 
Speaker 7:	07:02	We knew it was going to be one of our worst floods ever. And so we were well prepared to fight a flood, just not one of this magnitude. And so as it came up, you started, your early thoughts are, oh goodness, we're going to lose this neighborhood and then, oh, we're going to lose this end of town. Well then finally it was only after I honestly, after we evacuated, when we left, I didn't honestly think about my practice and the fact that we'd have five feet of flood water through the whole thing. And then my very ability to feed my family was going to be put in jeopardy. 
Speaker 3:	07:41	Like many disasters, the situation devastated the housing for many residents, 
Speaker 7:	07:45	what was supposed to be just a few days and it turned out to be about 21 days of evacuation with my wife and a couple of young kids. All but about eight homes I think in the city of east grand forks, sustained some degree of flood damage. And so it was a city wide event. 
Speaker 3:	08:02	Temporary shelters are holding thousands of flood refugees who could be out of their homes. The four weeks in disasters like the 1997 floods were so many homes are affected with few alternate housing available nearby. Fema works with federal, state and local partners to provide other temporary housing options to meet that need in east grand forks. The best option quickly became the use of travel trailers when it became clear that some of these neighborhoods wouldn't be reinhabited. The US Army Corps of engineers began setting up utility lines for permanent homes to be set up in relocation areas. The stabilization of the situation would take an enormous amount of time, but also an enormous amount of cooperation between the federal government and the state and local governments. But also the residents 
Speaker 8:	08:47	housing operation was, it's a flood debris clean up was a huge undertaking. So those two actually had to go hand in hand. Um, before we could pull in travel trailers. Rhodes had to be cleared. I'm lots next to houses had to be cleared. Um, we ended up using most people's driveways as the place that we could actually set my travel trailer and get it hooked up so we could utilize any existing, um, utility hookups that were still there. So we had two, two aspects for temporary housing. One were travel trailers next to people's homes in their driveways, and then there simply weren't enough places to put travel trailers for everybody. So we built the mobile home section. I'm just outside of town. We designed the lots and laid out the utilities so that once a mobile home was, I pulled out of there at some point you can actually build a home on that lot, use the utilities we had already put in and that was a controversial, a move at the time because it costs more money, be more piping and wires, do the watch that wide. But in the long run it became a permanent community with a lot of brand new homes. 
Speaker 3:	10:14	East grand forks meant more than stabilization of the new status quo and temporary solutions. It was looking to the future and rebuilding to a new reality 
Speaker 7:	10:23	in the last 10 years. Those are one by one filling up with for profit or non-profit businesses in agencies and other organizations that just want to be there. They have a customer base, they have revenues that exceed expenses. I mean, it's, it's a, it's sustainable, vibrant business district. Again, um, maybe the likes of which we've never seen. I think we appreciate the old architecture, the old he pillars and windows and neat things of these old storefronts, maybe more than we ever have. We did lose a bunch of them and, um, so I think honestly, and I, I can back it up in my own mind with again, just walk down our downtown anywhere through those streets and you will see that one by one, especially if you had a photo from 10 years ago, those shops are filled and they're filled with many of them. 
Speaker 7:	11:17	Local, interesting types of businesses, restaurants, coffee shops that run a good business that run a profitable business. They're happy to be there now. Some of them have been there five and 10 years and have proven that they can make a strong, a strong business position right there in that spot. And that has carried to where, again, more and more of those have filled and the result is again, you know, it's kind of an upward spiral as the businesses are there as the, as the store fronts filling and looking good, of course, more customers come or people that have a beautiful downtown theater complex in downtown east grand forks with developers across the street and um, lots of shops and restaurants and um, no, I, the private sector has stepped up. That's what I have enjoyed is a lot of the initial push was it was government driven to, to put back infrastructure to put back for flood protection and the private sector has stepped up and doesn't know what the private sector does best and that is find a way that the profitable businesses come into the, into the realm. 
Speaker 7:	12:32	And um, and now just carry the whole momentum forward. We did lose a high percentage of our population. I don't remember the number, if it was, um, 15 percent or so of east grand forks left and really, really took up residence in other communities after the flood. A whole lot of those folks had moved back. They did still have friends and family here, and when they began to see that, you know what, this city is going to be just fine. A lot of them have come back. I mentioned how you can confidently invest, whether it's an apartment building or it's a store or into your business or home, whatever it may be. I can confidently invest in this community, grand forks, east grand forks, knowing that we have that great flood protection. 
Speaker 3:	13:19	I feel a sense of optimism, especially after a comprehensive flood control system was built by the city in cooperation with the Army Corps of Engineers. 
Speaker 7:	13:29	Never say never, but I'm. We're good to almost anything you can imagine for a possible flood event. And why does that matter? Well, of course, you know the two thoughts that come to mind right away. Eight, we want to feel safe here. You know, in our minds, we want to know that we have as good a chance to be in dry any given year as anybody probably in the whole country and be from a pure fiscal standpoint. Who wants to invest money into a city that's highly susceptible to flooding? I don't. And uh, and that's not us. I mean her city has an amazing engineered corps of Engineers approved and certified flood control system 
Speaker 3:	14:16	throughout the area. There is a strong sense of patriotism and pride in the community. The new city hall building in East grand forks, Campbell library are powerful statements of what kind of community east grand forks is today. The greenway, which is a wide natural area adjacent to the river in the community, is a magnet for recreational enthusiasts and wildlife. The Red River state recreation campground located in the greenway is full almost every weekend and is one of the busiest campgrounds in Minnesota parks system entertainment, recreation, shopping, and employment opportunities in east grand forks have never been greater than they are today. Much of this work was accomplished through federal, state and local partnerships through federal grants and other state and private funding. 
Speaker 7:	15:01	So I'm OK with the fact that we fought to save the whole city. The whole city got wet and then we were all in the same boat coming back to recovery. And um, and I'm, I'm pretty pleased with where we've ended up, 
Speaker 3:	15:14	when Sherman traveled back to east grand forks in 2007 to commemorate the 10 year anniversary of the floods, he was amazed by the progress that had been made in the area. There were single family homes where mobile homes had been when he was last, there, Sherman, who is now retired from fema on a personal level, feels that the partnerships he developed with East grand forks, community leaders and residents are still a strong part of his life. And he sees this even today through Christmas cards that he receives and facebook friendships that he continues to foster with the people that he worked with so closely in response to these floods. 
Speaker 8:	15:51	I feel very fortunate to have met people up there and worked with them. And I remember at the 10 year anniversary then mayor, that, um, you know, you told us that the first day we need to live love and leave a legacy. He said, um, we've done that 
Speaker 3:	16:10	after catastrophe through years of hard fought recovery. The community of East grand forks has emerged stronger and more resilient than ever to future disaster. 
Speaker 2:	16:19	Yeah. 
Speaker 3:	16:23	We've linked to this episode on our Fema facebook page and we invite you to join the conversation in the comments. If you're interested in working for fema and helping us with the important work that we do, you might be interested in what we're working on for a future podcast episode. We'll be looking at what jobs fema is hiring for and what it's like to work for the agency. If you enjoyed this podcast, be sure to subscribe through Google play or the itunes store. You can even download each episode on Fema Dot Gov. if you have topic ideas or want to let us know what you think, makes sure to follow us on our social media accounts. We're on facebook, twitter, and stuff. 
Speaker 2:	17:00	No.