Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - April 20, 1997, Winnipeg, Manitoba In sunday free april a5 Joe free press a National guard vehicle patrols downtown grand Forks Early yesterday morning after dikes collapsed throughout the forcing residents to City succumbs to red flood preparation goes for naught As swollen River engulfs grand Forks free press reporter Kim Guttormson and photographer Joe Bryksa were in grand Forks Friday night and Early yester Day As floodwaters surged Over dikes into the cites this is their by Kim Guttormson staff reporter grand there was an eerie stillness on the streets of downtown grand the Light from an almost full Moon and nearby traffic lights danced off the Black water that had spilled Over the cites streets like paint from a tipped chunks of ice swirled along with cigarette Butts and pop cans and pieces of Wood caught up in the eve strength ening cars disappeared behind a rapidly deepening Lake of Black streams flowed Over stairwells with a pouring into basement apart a few Short hours residents could walk these streets and hop the trickle of water snaking across the but by 3 peo ple were wading through these same the murky water lapping Over the tops of rubber grand Forks had become the third Community along the red to suddenly and spectacularly lose its Battle with the River a Battle the City thought it was More than prepared for until the last fateful we were a sombre mayor Pat Owens said try ing to explain the we judge the flow of it came up so fast and the dikes can Only be stacked so and they were Satu rated with water for such a Long period of by yesterday More than a car sits in metre deep half the residents in this City of had simply grabbed what they could and left their across the River in East grand Forks the Waters attacked driving most from their Homes the Day Many of the evacuees were forced to flee As the Homes and shelters they retreated to became endangered them by the end of today the water will be on a Good share of the City Owens said in an ironic the Muddy water inundating the City has shut Down its water forcing the remaining residents to con serve potable it All began before Midnight on Fri stressed dikes began to loosen and the cites storm sewers began to spit Back their creating the trickle that would quickly become a with no Chance of stopping grand Forks threw in its soggy its emergency operations Centre was moved farther from the River to the University of North Dakota volunteers were called off the All that was left to was wait for the water to there were line ups at Al night convenience stores while peo ple stocked up on snacks and Many were caught of guard by the flood across the racing to store their cars at the top of a downtown one Fargo television Crew went for a Midnight snack and returned to find its trailer and its two editing suites cars began to the grand Forks her Ald stopped its saturday press run Halfway through As water climbed two feet around the air raid sirens began to go off around 2 warning residents to helicopters with blinding search lights flew Low Over the three men who grabbed a change of a sleeping bag and a cooler of Joe free press Darrell Nottestad helps his Mother inlaw Cross a flooded grand Forks Street Early pops complained of ruining their run ners As they slogged to their Matt sitting up All night while his roommates decided it was time to Rouse them once hed waded into the streets to get a copy of the local i imagined the worst and this is coming i he Darrell Nottestad grasped a sign Post with one hand and clutched his Mother inlaw with the other As he tried to move her against the current to his waiting dont stand he yet even As the situation some were determined to weather natures Shirley Rothenberger stood on a Street Corner As water climbed the pavement and watched her husband try to convince his parents to leave their were trying to talk them out of their she they dont think its their children implored them to citing the water level and the advice of but they but a 90minute drama chillingly illustrated what could happen if one waited too it started about 5 As the air raid sirens screamed and fire trucks cruised the neighbourhood announcing that everyone should evac about eight police and National guard soldiers worked to remove 35 elderly and ailing people from their apartment one Man had an oxygen another was paralysed and strapped to a spine standing in Waist High the rescuers passed the shivering residents and their blankets and pillows and purses above the flooded placed into the Back of a tworan Dahal ton army they waited in the Early morning air while the evacuation of their building was a photographer snagged a few floating giving some a seat on the they came banging on my door and i left my Scarf and a 95year old woman dressed in a Spring sitting on a Wing and clutching stems of geraniums cued by the same but her main concern was keeping track t of her handbag when she was feared from the truck to a bus waiting on dry ground to take them to an Emer gency some still didst understand Why they had to leave their people As Long As i dont get my feet Why would i leave John Rozynski just As there were at 11 Oclock Fri Day and 3 a steady Stream of cars made their Way out of town As Dawn broke National guard humvee were the Only vehicles easily making their Way through the waterlogged streets of grand Joe free press Wendy Asket left checks out the floodwaters in downtown grand Forks Early at an unidentified City resident Peers at her bicycle from a dry ;