MPR’s Erin Galbally reports on record breaking floods that have divided downtown Austin, Minnesota. Heavy rains caused the Cedar River, Dobbins Creek and Turtle Creek to overflow into basements and roadways. Some in community find themselves without a home or belongings.
In the spring of 2000, floodwaters in Austin, Minnesota, crested at 23.4 feet, the highest on record (surpassing the record set in 1978). Despite the all time high, overall damage was less. Far fewer homes received flood damage than in the multiple flood events due to structures removal from flood plain.
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ERIN GALBALLY: Over just 10 minutes, the pink basement apartment on North Main Street became unlivable. A flood of dark, smelly water poured in through a side door, leaving Cindy Spindler without a home.
CINDY SPINDLER: I've got a lot of knickknacks and everything, and I'm in my boots right now, and I've got my boyfriend and my mom, and other people helping me, and it's really bad. I'm packing up, moving out.
ERIN GALBALLY: In a white crop top and silver snow boots, Spindler tries to salvage what she can. Her kitchen sink is overflowing, storing stuffed animals and clothing safely out of reach from the water.
In a small city park across the street from Spindler's apartment, water creeps up to the public swimming pool. Parents take pictures of their kids, and rollerbladers and bikers buzz by for a look at the worst floods the city has seen in over 20 years.
CHRIS GRUNWALD: We got a sump pump running, got the windows all sandbagged, and it's about all you can do. Sit back and watch it and hope for the best.
ERIN GALBALLY: That's Chris Grunwald, who sits on his porch a mile down Main Street, surrounded by family members and an enormous amount of water. Houses along the South end of Main Street have been hit hard, a fact attested to by the constant whir of generators, and the bright blue cords connecting power from house to house.
Kermit Mann, the director of the city's Housing and Redevelopment Authority, is checking out flood damage on his bike. Mann says this time, the devastation has been contained, since after serious flooding in the 1970s, the city moved most of the houses that were in the floodplain.
KERMIT MANN: Not certainly nearly the number that were back in that time. Because we've taken out the highest incidence of areas, the most chronic areas that got hit. Those are pretty well resolved. It's the fringes now that they're working on.
ERIN GALBALLY: Where he stands, the Cedar River has moved 21 feet beyond its banks. Not far away, Nanette Liddell and her neighbors sip beer and survey the river that has engulfed their street. Tall and thin, with gray eyes, red from crying, Liddell says she lost everything in her basement-- a washer, dryer, and freezer filled with food, none of it covered by insurance.
NANETTE LIDDELL: Just totally stressed. It's no fun. Loss of everything. Everything you worked for, just gone. But thank God we've got neighbors that care, and we care about them. It's the only thing that's getting me through this thing. I'm ready to walk away.
ERIN GALBALLY: Today, around Austin, cleanup is expected to begin. As of now, there is no firm number as to how many people have been displaced. The only certainty is that the Cedar River crested yesterday at over 23 feet. Now, residents must wait for the water to subside and the skies to clear. Erin Galbally, Minnesota Public Radio, Rochester.