2024, home, Uncategorized, Weather

Rain And Flood

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Header photo courtesy of City of Bismarck

Tuesday, Bismack got torrential rains, between 4 and 5 inches over the space of about an hour that caused flooding all over the city. One of the major hospitals flooded. There were photos of the flooded MRI room all over the internet.

The hospital was somehow able to remain open. People were hydroplaning all over the place, and there were many flooded basements and businesses. It took my supervisor who works in Bismarck 1.5 hours to drive 6 miles to his house. Some cars floated away. I guest there weren’t any people in them at least. Wednesday they had another 1.58 inches in about an hour. I can’t imagine the mess. It was bad enough when Husband left a hose on and we had about an inch of water in two basement bedrooms. I imagine the water damage mitigating companies and insurance agents in Bismarck are pretty busy right now. Ish!

Ever been in a flood? Any insurance horror stories to tell? Do you own an umbrella??

39 thoughts on “Rain And Flood”

  1. Our house lies in the floodplain on the Ohio River. In 2011, we were underwater for a total of 58 days. It was 7 ft deep under our house. We had to retreat to an RV park with our camping trailer. The river left 60 cubic meters of mud on our carport alone.

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  2. Floods? Red River Of The North?!
    A 1962 flood took our house in south Moorhead. The 1997 Grand Forks Flood/Fire was horrible to witness.
    The summer of 1975 Flood was really rough on my farming friends north of FM. To have to standby and watch the water rolling over county roads into growing fields was horrible.
    Knowing the water is coming for you next…ugly.

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    1. I used one yesterday during a downpour as I was getting out of my vehicle to go into my work. It is a large golfing umbrella. I don’t know why we have it, as neither of us golfs. I think it used to be in my play therapy room.

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  5. I hate to like this post but I appreciate you writing it. We’ve been fortunate that our house has never been flooded, other than the carpets get damp or something like that, but never to the point that we’ve lost anything other than some papers on the floor.
    In Rochester it was the 1978 flood that is the Milestone. That’s what drove all the flood control projects so theoretically it won’t happen again. Rochester also sits in a low spot with a couple rivers coming through. Rochester had been flooded a couple times before that. In 1978 I was 14, and I remember helping clean up my grandparents basement and the church and I remember seeing stuff from the basement of the civic theater spread out in the grass: furniture, costumes, etc. But then I went and hurt my leg so that was the end of that.

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  6. i’ve written before about the time that I was driving and it ended up being 17 inches of rain in an hour. It was unbelievable. The windshield wipers couldn’t keep up with it when I finally pulled off the road I had to quickly find areas that were high enough to keep my car dry, and I simply swam home through all the cars in the bottom of the low lying dips in the road

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    1. i steered my amazon partner to market travel umbrellas to go along with her luggage locks. it was hugly successful. others copied and it became a race to the bottom of pricing . we quit and i have 100 or socleft on sale on ebay as we post

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  7. No, I have never been in a flood thank goodness. And no Insurance hassles that I can think of off the top of my head. We have quite a few umbrellas; they hang on a hook on the back porch. Unfortunately I have a tendency to leave home without them, even though the forecast may suggest I might need one.

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  8. Rise and Stay Dry, Baboons,

    All insurance stories are nightmare stories, as a provider and as a customer. What an industry! Right now I am “working with” (means nagging/complaining) the long term care insurance to get them to cough up Lou’s benefits. Apparently, that is hard for them, but they sure can collect the premiums without this much trouble. Yes, I am irritable about this.😡

    The July, 1987 rainstorm in the Cities flooded the lwer parking level of my apartment building at the time, and ruined some belongings (like Christmas decorations) stored there. I also have driven through deep water on 494 which taught me a lesson about how water collects below overpasses. No harm came, but I never again drove on the that road during a heavy rainstorm.

    I have umbrellas in the car, at the coat rack, and I used to carry one in my briefcase. So yes, I have many umbrellas.

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  9. I am very grateful that I’ve never been in a flood, even though I have lived very close to the Cannon River for most of my life. I’ve also never had any problems with insurance, except that it is constantly getting more and more expensive.

    When I bought my RAV4, after having a Honda Civic, the cost of insurance went up. They explained it was due to safety issues with the Rav. I recently got a Honda Civic, switched the insurance policy to that, and lo and behold, the cost went up. Why? Safety issues. It’s a game, I tell ya.

    I’ve had umbrellas in the past. I never use them, even if I try to. I just walk past them, or leave them in the car or on a coat hanger somewhere. They just don’t work for me. I have a good raincoat now and the hood works pretty well. I need windshield wipers for my glasses though.

    My friend Pam took me on a tour of Waterville the other day. We spent a few hours out on Lake Sakatah kayaking, then we toured the town in her new (Sherpa) GMC truck. Some people in Waterville have returned to their homes, which is kind of unbelievable. I don’t think I would be willing to live in a house that was full of water, but that might be their only option. A lot of places are a total loss – basements caved in under the house. Some homes were filled with water. Amazingly, the dentist office in town was able to stay open and the dentist saw patients. It is in an older small home, elevated on a mound, and has no basement. It was surrounded by Lake Sakatah. They sandbagged around it and used pumps to remove any encroaching water. Patients went to the dentist in canoes.

    Some summer cabins or “second” homes in Waterville will not be insured and FEMA is not providing assistance to the owners. They’re a total loss.

    Pam drove me past my former home. I felt nothing but gratitude for not being there anymore.

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  10. Sandra had wanted umbrellas but never used them. I threw out 5 that were stashed in the car and in closets. Yesterday I finally forced myself to give away her dress clothes. I pulled her dress coat out of the closet, and an umbrella fell off the hanger. Not once have I seen her use an umbrella.
    Clyde

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  11. I’m grateful to have never suffered the consequences of a flood except as a bystander and helper. During the summer of 1993, I drove to Oswego, IL to meet up with Tia to celebrate our 25th anniversary as friends. Our plan was to drive down to Carbondale where we had met, and visit friends along the way.

    That whole spring and summer several Midwestern states along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers experienced devastating flooding. We were, of course, aware of this; the news was reporting extensively on the calamities everywhere. But the extent to which that flood impacted communities, spread over a huge area, really began to sink in as we neared St. Louis. Major detours were par for the course, sometimes you simply couldn’t get to where you wanted to go. Millions of sandbags were testament to the futile efforts to keep the water at bay. What made the biggest impression on me, however, was the stench, exacerbated by the summer heat, no doubt, of rot and decay.

    It’s truly humbling to realize how many people’s lives have been forever altered through natural disasters like this. I’m grateful that my own disasters have been relatively small and inconsequential.

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    1. I as well. Never had any water damage. Now live about 200 feet higher than the river. Lived 100 feet higher than Lake Superior. Good drainage around my first floor apartment. Only had one house with a basement, which was in an old flood plain, but not now considered in one. Sump pump kept up with two heavy rainfalls. House I grew up in was on side of steep hill. Constant erosion issues but we had our own gravel/sand pit. Had two fires there in outbuildings.
      Did sandbagging in Rochester area in 1965.
      Clyde

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  12. I don’t currently own an umbrella, though I have at various times in my life owned several. I’ve also often used one. The trouble with umbrellas are that you tend to forget them when you no longer need them. I’d bet that umbrella’s are among the most plentiful items in any lost and found facility. Hans owns several umbrellas, and he’s pretty good at sharing them.

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  13. Related news: the destroyed Dam Store is going to open in a closed local restaurant in Mankato, perhaps temporarily if they are allowed to build on their old site.

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  14. I have not been in a real flood, thankfully. Once, early in my driving career, I drove through a too-deep pool (too big to be a puddle) and the car died due to a wet distributor cap, but that’s been the worst so far. I don’t think that was my little Honda Civic, I think that might have been the 1980’s Ford Tempo my dad passed down to me.

    We have a number of umbrellas, which we use not only for rain but as sunshades–I got some stares and a few smiles last year at the Fair with my Pusheen umbrella. I’m sure I’ll need a parasol again this year, so if you see a Pusheen brolly (and a woman with a bandana on her head underneath), come over and say hi!

    Also, thank you all for the good wishes from yesterday, I appreciate it!

    –Crow Girl

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  15. Oh, speaking of umbrellas! A couple weeks ago we were on our way to the Greek Festival at St. George’s in St. Paul, and my housemate accidentally left her sunshade umbrella on the A Line. She called Metro Transit right away–they couldn’t put her through to the driver, but she got the time of the return trip. We waited for the bus to come back around, got on briefly, and found the umbrella laying on one of the sideways seats up front.

    –Crow Girl

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  16. As long as I have my hat on, I don’t use umbrella’s. But I hate getting my head wet in the rain. Isn’t that weird? Usually I’m out somewhere else when I need the umbrella that’s at home or back in the car.
    Once leaving the college I did the proverbial ‘garbage bag poncho’ to walk to the car. It must have been raining hard.
    We were out in DC a few years ago and it was raining really hard. We bought disposable poncho’s from the Walgreens. But I hate how sticky and hot I get in those.

    We were in Charleston SC when the high tide came in higher than normal due to a full moon. Our rental car was parked in a low spot and water was at the bottom of the door. I didn’t want to take off my shoes and foot brace to walk out there, but a guy walking by was in sandels and he was glad to help out. later on we saw him boarding a very large yacht. I shoulda got to know him better!

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  17. In the summer of 2001, I persuaded my wife and children to leave me behind in Taiwan for a few weeks while they visited the USA. I worked 30 miles from home and commuted by train. We resided in a 6th floor apartment in Kaohsiung City. I left the windows open when I headed out to work. A typhoon blew through that afternoon, not a violent one, but one with lots of rain. When it came time to return home, trains had been cancelled. I found a bus and climbed on. The trip took hours, and the city was flooded. I left the bus about 2 miles from home and walked through water that was almost a foot deep in places. Arriving home, I had to deal with the flood inside (the wind had sent a LOT of water in through the windows.)
    The next morning, I was late to work (but the trains were running again). I learned about closing up before departing.

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  18. We had two helpful high school boys, the sons of a coworker, both with ADHD, clear out our gutters and rain spouts. My, they worked fast and caperd all over the roof like goats. Now the rain water goes down the spouts where it is supposed to, and not over the sides where it can fill up a window well and then flood the basement. That happened to us twice.

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  19. 1965 must have been a massive flooding summer – in both Minn. and Iowa. I remember sandbagging out on the Iowa River just north of town. And we’ve driven over the Minnesota River at Shakopee, where there is still a sign that shows the flood line from 1965 on that bridge.

    I have an umbrella in the car, finally positioned right behind the drivers seat rather than in the way back. Like Jacque, also one by each door, and one in the garage. Not that I could find each of them immediately…

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  20. I’m surprised that no one else on the trail seems to have memories connected to the 1993 flood, especially since we have such a large contingent of baboons connected to Iowa. What am I missing?

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    1. I remember hearing about it, but didn’t have any direct experience. I think my folks weren’t much affected.

      Now the storm in May of 1998 with the horrible straight line winds – leveled parts of Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden… that I remember. I just looked it up – tornado touched down in Roseville… Of course, this was winds, not flooding.

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    3. PJ – That summer I took one of my young nieces to visit Grandma & Grandpa in NW Arkansas. We flew to Memphis first and saw plenty of flooding along our route. My 4 year old niece was almost more impressed by all the water than I was.

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  21. I have lots of umbrellas. The big one is one my sister gave me as a gift, a Barnes & Noble umbrella with the names of authors on it. Then a few smaller umbrellas that you can fold up and stash in a tote bag.

    The 1987 torrential rain….I was driving on Shepard Road. Could not see anything, just had to stop and wait. I’m glad I was in a good elevation and was able to drive away when the rain let up a little.

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  23. Thanks for sharing this story about the recent flooding in Bismarck. It is interesting that the hospital managed to stay open despite such severe conditions—flooding an MRI room sounds like a major challenge! I agree that the aftermath of these kinds of events must keep water damage mitigation companies and insurance agents extremely busy. Having seen how even a small water leak can cause issues, I can’t imagine the mess and stress with multiple inches of rain in such a short time. Hope the community is able to recover quickly!

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