Minot's Struggle Hits Close To Home Here in Albertville

After living in Fargo, N.D., for more than a decade, I've seen this situation play out more than a few times. 

The trucks carrying loads of clay, the white bags of sand, and the rising water looming down on a community so slowly, that it's like getting run over by a steamroller. They only move so fast, you know. 

But, in Fargo, we've never lost.

From the "first" time, in 1997, to the time it looked like all was lost (2009), to the most recent flood fight last April, Fargo has somehow escaped with minimal damage. 

Minot, N.D., an five-hour car trip (it seems like eight) away from Fargo, lost its battle Tuesday. At 12:57 p.m., the sirens sounded, not due to severe weather, but because water was coming over the tops of dikes protecting more than 11,000 residents of this town of about 36,000. 

Those in evacuation zones were forced to pack up and leave, for the second time in about six weeks. 

It hits close to home for me. Minot is where my parents met. It's where they went to college and where several of my aunts and uncles finally struck out on their own. Minot is 50 miles south of Kenmare, my father's hometown (less than 20 miles from the Canada border), and it's where my grandmother scared the bejeezus out of us all by getting into a car accident that has become family lore. 

I've golfed on holes that are now more than 10 feet under the Souris River waters. I've stayed at a hotel that is now serving as a shelter for victims. I've driven on those roads that are now being used as evacuation routes. 

One of my childhood memories is my dad's 8 mm camera and projector. I actually remember him using it, but I also remember when, one night, we broke out the old reels and tossed them on. One, amazingly, was of the 1969 flood in Minot, with Bill (my dad) and my late Uncle Darryl moving things through flooded streets after dikes gave way to the river waters that year. 

This spring's crest, amazingly, is supposed to be nearly seven feet higher, some time this weekend. 

Minot has never been my home, but my roots lie in that area. Like anyone who is paying attention, it's just a sad situation.

Information for the Minot (Ward County) Red Cross can be found here. Reach out and donate. It's the least we can do.