Transcripts

text | pdf |

---

DAVID: Governor Pawlenty will visit the northwestern Minnesota town of Roseau tonight, as residents there fight to hold back floodwaters. The Roseau River has risen steadily following heavy rains this week. Residents are hoping to avoid the disastrous flooding they experienced in 2002. Main Street Radio's Tom Robertson is in Roseau, and he joins me now. Hi, Tom.

TOM: Hi, David.

DAVID: Just describe for us what you can see, where you are there in Roseau, and what kind of activity is going on.

TOM: Well, obviously, David, there's a flurry of activity. These folks went through a major flood in 2002. So they've been through this before.

But I'm several hundred feet from the Roseau River right now. The level is currently at about 20 feet. And there are hundreds of people filling sandbags. And there's been dike work that's been going on in the past couple of days. The Army Corps of Engineers arrived Wednesday and brought with them 300,000 sandbags. And so we've got high school students and neighborhood residents, just people from all throughout the community, that are rallying right along the Roseau River.

DAVID: And the level is at 20 feet now. The levee goes up to about 22, is that right?

TOM: Well, they're expecting the river to crest somewhere around 22 feet. They're estimating sometime around midnight tonight it will reach 22 feet. I spoke to Mayor Jeff Pawlowski just about an hour ago. And he says that their levee system is good to 24 feet. So they're somewhat hopeful that they are ready for this water.

DAVID: Roseau experienced a major flood just two years ago, as you mentioned. Have changes been put in place since that flood that is helping them this time around?

TOM: Well, $120 million in damage is what that flood in 2002 caused. And since that time, yes, they have reinforced their dike system. They have moved some homes out of the most prone areas of the flood zone. So that's reconfigured some of the neighborhoods and enabled large vehicles to get in to bring in clay and dike material.

As you drive in, it's interesting. You might not guess that there's anything going on. Traffic is moving fairly regularly. There were people shopping downtown.

As you get closer to the river, that's when you start to see lots of activity, lots of four-wheelers. Of course, this is home to Polaris Industries, and so many, many four-wheelers up here. And they're all very busy using those vehicles to move these sandbags around.

DAVID: So nobody's packing up and moving out?

TOM: Well, that I couldn't say for sure. But it appears that this town is ready for this event. They have, obviously, over the past couple of years, been doing everything they can to ensure that what happened in 2002 won't happen again.

The Army Corps of Engineers is about midway through a two-year feasibility study to really do the major work that needs to be done here in shoring up a more permanent dike system. So that process has not been complete. But these folks have been through this.

And so I think they were more prepared. Jeff Pawlowski, the mayor, says he's cautiously optimistic that they are going to be able to handle this. And you drive around the neighborhoods and there doesn't seem to be a huge amount of panic here.

DAVID: And people will be out tonight still working and watching?

TOM: I am very sure that the people will be very busy here tonight. I'm guessing they'll have flood lights up along the river. And they will be basically lots of people out monitoring what they have in place now.

They feel fairly confident that the level of what they have in place is going to handle these rising flood waters. They'll be looking for leaks. They'll be shoring up weakened areas. But certainly, there will be lots of people tonight that won't be getting too much sleep.

DAVID: Thanks, Tom. Try to stay dry.

TOM: All right, David, thank you.

DAVID: That was Main Street Radio's Tom Robertson reporting from Roseau.