My Naked House

Nancy, this is the aftermath of the man made flooding of the Mouse River. The US Army Corps Of Engineers deliberately released 3 times the amount of water that our dike system could hold because of their mismanagement of up stream reservoirs. 10,000 people in Minot ND were left homeless due to their error. This happened in late June. The water was about 6 feet high in our living rooms for a period of 3 weeks. Check back in my blog posts and you will see the unbelievable mold and destruction. Many people will not rebuild. Imagine being one of hundreds that just built a new house in the last year, having a $300,000.00 mortgage and having your home destroyed this way. I lost my home, my business,and my little rental property. Less then 10% of the homeowners had flood insurance because no one was in a "flood plane" because the dike system was supposed to protect us. (I did have insurance on my home). What the pictures don't show is the stench from all the sewage the City dumped into the flooding river because all the lift stations went down and also from all the decaying things the flood waters left behind. It is just an amazing scene yet today and I imagine it will be for another year yet as people continue to gut out their homes and place all their possessions on the curb. It truly looks like a war zone.

I am eager to post pictures of the progress. Our home will be rebuilt better then ever with a floor plan better suited for our family. Many people are not so eager to get to it. NO government official at any level has given us any assurance in any way that next spring will be any better.

Judi, it will be beautiful and beautifuly landscaped as well. We are in no hurry and do not plan on being back in until we know what next spring and early summer will bring.

Thanks Michelle, but I have no desire to be back in soon as the valley is no place for young kids with the lack of vegetation (it killed everything except trees taller then 30') and the tons of sewage the City dumped into the river that sits upon the lawns. Add to that all the nails, screws, broken glass, and other dangerous items deposited by the flood as well as home owners putting stuff out on the curb. This is the main reason I do not wish to get back before spring and why many folks will not return at all.

Debbie, before the flood I had put out a plea for builders due to the oil boom in our area. There are a lot of builders who have come do to my plea and believe me they won't catch up to the need for housing anytime in the next 10 years.

Laura, I so wish I could say we will be there next week (then I could see my Uncle and Aunt, Herb and Faith) but I just checked the lotto and I didn't get one single number right. Oh well, I guess I'm supposed to win a BIGGER jackpot.

Hi Brenda! The disaster just seems to get worse the more we know about it. We keep finding out that alarms had been sounded as early as last January that the Corps Of Engineers needed to take action but they chose to stick to their "Master Plan" or manual or what ever it is and did nothing until May when it was to late.

Mike, the progress is exciting but it seems so slow. One of my neighbors is way ahead of me and it gives me hope as well as disappointment that I am so far behind him. I have a good contractor (and they are in high demand as you can imagine) but his spiritual beliefs only have he and his crew on the job 3 days a week. The rest of the week they do "missionary" work and build meeting halls. I do what I can myself but it's really hard when you have lots of other work plus I'm studying for my Brokers license as well.

Gabrielle, The insurance and the SBA loan are strictly for repair and do not even allow for improvement, which I think sucks. I would love to enclose the area that is now the carport but that is forbidden. I would also like to do some extensive landscaping to help with possible future flooding but the amount allowed for that is less then $3,000. What can you do with that other then repair what had washed away?

Nick, the out pouring of help has been nothing short of phenomenal. This disaster has been dwarfed buy the many blessings shown us by others. It makes me very eager to give back as soon as we can.