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Loss of income plagued many after the flood. As these examples from the communities of Breckenridge and Wahpeton show, circumstance and chance had major influence on when and how a flooded business could resume its operations. Altogether, businesses, employers, and employees lost millions of dollars due to flood-related interruptions of normal business.
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Even as the flood waters were still receding around his south Breckenridge home, contractor Randy Tobias was able to continue his business with a minimum loss of income. In the following months, flood repairs became a regular part of his work. Photo courtesy of Randy and Nanci Tobias.
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The Willemssen home in Breckenridge, lifted off its foundations to await a new basement.
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When the flood damage forced her to have her home lifted off its foundation, Kim Willemssen feared that she would have to stop her day care business. But two of her clients, Jeff and Paula Davis, offered the use of their home. At Christmas, 1997, a 3rd grade class from Wahpeton sings carols with Kim's day care children in the Davis family room. Photos courtesy of Kim Willemssen.
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After his NAPA Auto Parts store was flooded in Breckenridge, John Rightmire's business was closed for several months. Finally, he reopened in a new location in Wahpeton, North Dakota. Photo courtesy of Dave Saville and FEMA.
| Flood of '97 took its toll on
Breckenridge firms By Gerry Gillmour, The Forum Some closed, Some left. Most stayed. The flood of 1997 was especially tough on businesses here because it struck not once but twice in a city that each spring battles not one river but three. Today is the anniversary of the second record crest of the Red River at its headwaters. "The thing that continues to blow my mind is how devastated this town was," says Stan Thurlow. Thurlow was hired in the wake of the flood as director of the city's new Office of Housing and Flood Recovery. He said the flood caused at least $50 million in damage to homes, businesses and city infrastructure, and estimates that the city lost nearly 10 percent of its population. "People forget how bad it was. But what happened at Grand Forks and East Grand Forks just took us off the national radar screen," Thurlow says. "To this day, people just don't have a clue about what happened here." The flood of April 15 caught many off guard. Water came from not only the rivers but flowing overland into the south side of town. Everything south of the main railroad line and Minnesota Avenue was inundated with water. More than 20 businesses on the south side of town were closed for extended periods. Breckenridge Motors, the local auto dealership, never reopened. It consolidated with a Wahpeton, ND dealership. Four Seasons Plant Center, a local nursery just south of where the Bois de Sioux joins the Otter Tail to create the Red River of the North, essentially lost an entire year of business. The local NAPA Auto Parts store, a 25-year fixture in the community, ended up moving to Wahpeton, relocating on the highway 210 bypass which links Breckenridge and Wahpeton on the north. "It doesn't really seem like we're open yet," says John Rightmire, Jr., who still works with his father, John Rightmire, Sr. "See all those parts over there? We have to put those away yet." The Breckenridge NAPA was in an old grocery store building, just south of downtown and just south of the railroad tracks. It has been there since a downtown location burned in 1976. NAPA flooded at its grocery store location in 1989. Last year, its basement was flooded during the first Wahpeton- Breckenridge crest of 1.2 feet on April 5. The second crest left 2 feet of water on the main floor. With encouragement and loans from NAPA, Rightmire decided to reopen. Unfortunately for Breckenridge, he ultimately decided on a flood-free location across the Red River. "We did try to find a Breckenridge location," Rightmire says. "It seemed like there were sites, and then there wasn't. We had to do something." The new 8,500-square-foot, $350,000 store and shop was built by one of Rightmire's drag racing buddies, Bill Weimann, owner of American Building Brokers of Fargo. "We've still kept our Breckenridge business, but we're getting a lot of new business here," Rightmire says. "We hope that continues." |
Part of an article that appeared in the Fargo Forum, April 15, 1998.
| "It's always nice to hear that there was a $250,000
loss and the business was fully insured, but it doesn't do much good if you have to wait
to rebuild that business and you don't have any income coming in." Lincoln Huseby, independent insurance agent, on business losses. |
