It was a Friday. On Wednesday the 16th, classes at the University were canceled for the rest of the semester. That night, the mayor tells the people that live in the downtown area of Grand Forks that we can expect 4 to 6 inches of water in the street at the worst of it all. Crys and I decide to ride it out in the apartment.
But...ten years ago tomorrow, we woke up and helped the building owners clear stuff from the ground floor and basement. We walked a block and a half to the river, where a National Guardsman was posted. The water was just down the dike from where we were standing, and I asked the guardsman "how long ya been here?"
"About 30 minutes. See that stick?" He pointed to the top of a stick about 5 feet away. "I set that into the water when I got here. It's a foot long." We could see just about an inch and a half. I looked at Crys...and said..."we're leaving."
I-29 was closed between Grand Forks and Fargo at that point, and our landlords invited us to go with them to Jamestown, ND. We packed a suitcase each, got the cats into the car, oh, and the parakeet as well, and went to their house on the other side of town. We weren't leaving until the next day. We spent the afternoon flood-proofing their house, and making plans.
At 4 a.m., the sirens went off. That's when the water topped the dikes. Our landlord went down to the building at about 2 a.m., and the last tenant was still in the building, and Ernie got her to leave, taking her to her daughter's house on the northwest corner of the city. He said that the manhole covers were floating in the water.
We left just after noon...joining a caravan of vehicles driving west on US Highway 2. We didn't go far before turning south, heading cross-country to Wimbleton, ND, 18 miles outside of Jamestown. Ernie's step-dad lived there at the time.
As we were pulling into Wimbleton, we heard the first reports of the fires.
The day before, as we backed away from our apartment building, Crys asked me..."what if it burns?" I scoffed. "It's a flood, baby, what can burn??"
Fuck.
The Security Building went first, the winds driving the fires north...wiping out an entire block, taking out the Grand Forks Herald as well. The forest service sent helicopters and airplanes to do air drops on the fires, mainly because the fire department couldn't get there in the five feet of water -- 4-6 inches MY ass-- and when they did get down there, the pumpers ferried in on military flatbeds, they couldn't find the hydrants and had to dive in their turn-out gear...only to find the lines had no pressure.
Air drops had to be suspended because the fucking news helicopters wouldn't give them the right-of-way.
About dusk, the winds died.
And then pushed to the south...blowing embers ahead of them.
Our building, the summer before, had received a new roof. Tar. It didn't take long for our building to catch fire.
When we woke the next morning, Sunday the 20th, we turned on the television to see our home burning.
Ten years ago tomorrow, my life was changed.
Ten years ago Friday, I lost everything.
Five years later, I'd lose it all over again.
I've come a long way since.
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1 comment:
You have come a long way, but I think you still have a few miles ahead of you. You are angry. I don’t know if it is with the person who died or if you are angry at your self for enabling her, but you are angry yet. Life is too short to dwell on things in the past, sometimes it better just to go forward and feel blessed to have had that person in your life. To have had some to love as much as you loved her and be loved, you are a very lucky person. Not all of us have to opportunity to have that kind of love from someone. It gives me hope to find someone one day to love me as much as you loved her.
Bogie
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