/usr/web/www.marshallindependent.com/wp-content/themes/coreV2/single.php
×

Flood victims face many challenges

Photos by Jenny Kirk Amidst flooding at Forman Acres on Lake Shetek, Teresa Cooling heads to help out a neighbor by sharing her wet-vac. See more flooding photos on page 6B.

Clean-up efforts and challenges due to flooding continue around the area on Thursday.

Residents of Forman Acres on the south side of Lake Shetek were dealing with severe flooding issues. Many of the cabins or homes were engulfed with water.

“Our cabin is the fourth one in and it’s surrounded by water,” Teresa Cooling said. “So we’ve got two sump pumps going now and they’re keeping up pretty good.”

A resident on the lake for the past 20 years, Cooling said she’s never seen flooding anywhere near this level.

“It’s never been this bad,” she said. “My neighbors have been here since 1969 and they’ve never seen the water this high. But thankfully, we have wonderful neighbors who help each other out.”

In the early afternoon, Cooling was on her way to help out her neighbors. She pushed a wheelbarrow carrying a shop-vac through thigh-high water to get there.

“Some people had basement damage,” Cooling said. “I think the north side is worse, though.”

Like a true Minnesotan, Cooling added: “Well, at least we don’t have to mow.”

Jolinda and Mike Stoel also live on the south side of Lake Shetek and have been watching its water level rise to significant levels.

“Two weeks ago, a lot of people were pulling their boats out because the water was getting so high,” Jolinda Stoel said. “We had a pontoon boat here and these two boats and we pulled them out that same weekend. Then we got about 6 to 7 inches in the last blast (Tuesday). That’s when it really flooded.”

Stoel said a little water had seeped into the garage on Monday, but things changed quickly.

“Our garage is built up about a foot or so and we maybe had a couple inches in there on Monday,” she said. “We got that all dried out. We thought we were golden. We could still see our grass at that point. They were saying a 20 percent chance of scattered for Monday night into Tuesday. We thought by Thursday it would be dry, or at least decent.”

Now, most of the Forman Acres homes are surrounded by water.

“We were watching the system and it just hovered,” Stoel said. “It didn’t pass through very quickly Tuesday morning. There are places at ground level, just on a cement slab. Ours is basically a triple wide trailer, so we’re up almost 3 feet. We’re pretty good, but it’s close to busting in.”

The private drive to get to the Stoel residence and a handful of other cabins was severely flooded. Mike Stoel walks with a cane, so he’s not able to get back to his home.

“The drive is up to my waist and in some spots, the ground isn’t level so it can get deeper,” Jolinda Stoel said. “I’ve had to be really careful walking in and out.”

And the worst part might not be over yet.

“The engineer on the Fourth of July was talking to a friend of ours and the engineer told her that they’ve predicted the lake will come up two feet yet,” Stoel said. “So we scrambled and got family here about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, and in about two hours, we emptied about 80 percent of my house. Everything else, we lifted up. Now, we just have to keep watching it to see what it’s going to do.”

On the west side of the lake, a family visiting from Kentucky was starting to panic a little. They’d watched people get evacuated from the Shetek Bible camp area as the floodwaters completely covered the road leading into Keeley Island. They weren’t sure if they’d be able to get their jeep out in time before they needed to leave on Thursday, but fortunately, everything worked out alright.

Rich and Diane Zanter live on the lake for half of the year. On Thursday, the couple took a boat ride from their backyard to visit a neighbor.

“I found a piece of their dock, tied it up and brought it to them,” Rich Zanter said. “We ended up having coffee with them.”

Zanter said his neighbor thinks this is like a 500-year flood. Whether it is or not, the Zanters said there have been a lot of visitors to Valhalla Island.

“People have been coming through looking around,” Diane Zanter said. “The flooding is unbelievable. It might be a once-in-a-lifetime occurrance. We are just very blessed (the water) is not in our cabin.”

The rising water in Lake Yankton in Balaton is also causing some issues.

“I’ve never seen it this high,” said Fred Timmerman, who lives on the east side of the lake. “It’s the highest it’s ever been.”

While Timmerman is watching the water creep up further than it ever has, he’s grateful that none has made its way into his home. Lake home neighbors Tami and Grant Wee haven’t been as fortunate.

“The whole (Balaton Fire Department) crew was out here this morning and dumped a load of sand,” Timmerman said. “They had three sump pumps going over there.”

The Wee’s son, Brent Wee, said the water started causing big problems, but that people have been graciously helping out.

“We used play sand from Menards on Wednesday because we didn’t have the sandbags yet,” Wee said. “But the lake kept getting higher. Then starting on Wednesday night, the ground water started seeing into the inside. That’s why we have carpet machines running, just to keep up. I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

Wee said friends from their church came and helped out on Wednesday. The Balaton Fire Department led the sandbag effort on Thursday.

“They did great putting up the actual sand bags,” he said. “The ground is so saturated that the water doesn’t have anywhere to go. We have three sump pumps running. We’re just praying it’s enough.”

A lot of people had a difficult time trying to get to certain locations in southwest Minnesota as many roads are still underwater or unsafe. Timmerman’s daughter and son-in-law, Becky and Randy DeGreeff found that out. Later, they checked out one of the low spots nearby.

“Randy and I took the four-wheeler and went down to where the road is closed by Spink Lake,” Becky DeGreeff said. “The carp were swimming over the road, from the east side of Spink to the west side and back and forth. There were tons of carp.”

Thinking back, DeGreeff said she can’t remember a time when the lake was so swollen.

“I never remember it being this high,” she said. “Now, you can lie in the hammock and get your butt wet. And the fire pit is under water — so is the boat dock.”

In Tracy, a collection point to drop off flood-damaged debris was set up for residents at the former Red Rooster location.

“It’s been absolutely wonderful,” Tracy Fire Department Chief Dale Johnson III said of the coordination efforts. “We’re working on trying to get the tonnage of storm debris we collected (Thursday), but we probably won’t get those numbers until (Friday) morning.”

As pickup trucks with trailers and other vehicles steadily streamed into the lot all day, volunteers were ready to move the items to five specific dump spots – usually skidloader buckets. They were still working at 9 p.m. Thursday.

“We had to rotate for the guys to be able to eat something because people kept coming,” Johnson said. “But thankfully, the city and the citizens of the community were bringing us things like water and food. It was amazing.”

Some of the pitched items included carpets, mattresses, televisions, computers, furniture and appliances.

“We had people from the Walnut Grove, Garvin and Tracy fire departments, Tracy Public Works, Cooreman Contracting, Neumann Excavating and Southwest Sanitation,” Johnson said. “Scott at Southwest Sanitation has been a lifesaver to the community (Thursday) for getting us roll-off containers to fill.”

While many of the same people helped all day on Tuesday, when the major flooding issues began, and half a day on Wednesday, they were eager to help on Thursday. The collection – something Johnson said has never been done before — will also continue into Saturday.

“A lot of these firemen started around 5 o’clock in the morning on Tuesday and worked until almost midnight,” Johnson said. “Some had sewage in their own basements and were still here to work all day (Thursday).”

Debris collection times today for Tracy residents are from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 8-11 a.m. on Saturday at the former Red Rooster.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.38/week.

Subscribe Today