Update on North Dakota Floods from Region V directors

As you are aware a tornado struck Northwood, North Dakota (35 miles South West of Grand Forks ) on August 26, 07. That following Sunday, Ben Funk, made an investigative trip to Northwood. It was his initial sense that there might be a role for MDS in this disaster response. At that time Lutheran Disaster Response (Bonnie Turner), the Salvation Army, The American Red Cross and the United Methodists were on site as part of the early and clean up/registration/enquiry effort. FEMA arrived shortly after and has since then approved both public and individual assistance grants. Some homeowners already have a cheque in hand from FEMA. Note that ARC has already left Northwood and there was no evidence of SA or the United Methodists present when we visited these past few days. It was and remains very much a LDR operation with essentially Bonnie Turner on the ground in Grand Forks and even she is there on a part time basis, working out of Fargo .

Because North Dakota is part of Region III, Wilbur Litwiler (Region III Director) and I, along with Lois and Kevin King, discussed all aspects of this situation during our Board Meetings in Akron ON September 6 - 8. We wanted to ensure that, if the Manitoba Unit became involved in ND, they did so with the blessing of Region III and an awareness by both Akron and Region 5. All involved also wanted to ensure that any response efforts by Manitoba serve, not only as an encouragement to the residents of Northwood, but also the one or two MDS reps in the area who do not have the energy, etc., to become personally involved at this juncture. Also, it needs to be noted that there are no Mennonite churches within close proximity of Northwood.

As a result of all of the above, 2 more visits of an investigative nature have been made to Northwood. On Wednesday Sept 19, Ben Funk, Neil Enns, Dick Buhler and Ron Enns, attended at Northwood. We had lengthy discussions with FEMA reps, Marcy, the town auditor, a student researcher who has canvassed the entire town with a questionnaire and Bonnie Turner of LDR. Our main goals were to ascertain where the clean up and rebuild process was at, how the LTRC/unmet needs committee was functioning, the nature and extent of tornado damage, and where MDS could fit into the rebuild phase.

Much of the residential cleanup has been completed except for some of the homes that need to be demolished. The plan is for these homes and the remaining commercial buildings to be taken down and cleaned up by local heavy equipment. Bonnie appears to be the only "show in town" and so she has done a remarkable job with the clean up efforts involving over 2000 day volunteers. Her plans for rebuild need some tweaking but this is to be expected when you move so quickly from clean up to a rebuild effort. Her initial plan to involve MDS and other local volunteers was with a blitz build on October 18, 19 and 20 (most of MDS leadership and staff are in NB at our Board retreat during that weekend). (Bonnie has committed to this weekend for the blitz and appears not to be able to change this aspect of the rebuild effort). Our initial information from her with respect to details of the blitz build was very sketchy and we were anxious to clarify this so that any MDS volunteers during this weekend would have meaningful work. In the course of our discussion with Bonnie, a second initiative was mentioned. It was her hope to have major demolition (using heavy equipment) and clean up (using volunteers) happen on October 12 and 13. As we questioned her about these 2 events, it became evident that a number of issues (demolition permits, structural analysis, etc.) could prevent the Oct. 12 & 13 activity. Also, our visit on September 20 indicated that when residential buildings were demolished with heavy equipment, they also did a superb job of clean up using the equipment, thereby negating any need for a manual clean up.

As well, many questions remain to be answered about the October 18, 19 and 20 blitz. Are there homes to be worked on and if so how many homes? What is the nature and extent of damage to homes? What type of skill sets and tools will be required? (LDR does not have construction leadership or tools on site) Has case work been done in order to see who qualifies for rebuild assistance? Have the potential clients jumped through all the hoops in order to access funds for materials? Have individual homes been assessed for material lists for repairs? Have supplies been ordered and will they be on hand for the build? None of these questions have been addressed and this set off the alarm bells for the 4 of us on our visit on Wednesday. It was decided that Dick and I (Ron) would return early Thursday morning to go through a list of approximately a dozen homeowners in order to do some case work (getting to know the client, their needs structurally and financially and if appropriate to develop a materials list for a rebuild). Dick and I spent all day Thursday visiting clients on the list. We discovered that, except for the BF house, all the clients had made the necessary repairs or were in the process of doing so and did not need any further assistance from LDR or MDS. We were able to refer several clients to the city for assistance for their commercial enterprise and to the local lumber yard to access free windows that had come into town for tornado victims. Our visit with Rick (one of the owner managers of the lumber yard) was very informative as to the local politics of this situation. For example, many non Northwood/tornado victims were trying to access free windows and Rick, out of concern that residents receive immediate assistance, had organized several local college/Bible school groups to come in to do various tasks quite apart from and without the knowledge of Bonnie at LDR.

Dick and I were pleased with our findings in that we could report to Bonnie that she could strike off all names on our list except for BF whose house needs some window repair, an interior door, siding repairs, with possible repaint of the entire exterior house, possible minor structural repair to 2 roof sections and a complete re-roofing. It also suggested to us that there may be a limited need for MDS to be involved in the blitz build or any subsequent longer term efforts. There had been much talk of the possibility of setting up an MDS site in Northwood but unless future investigative trips clearly point in this direction, there does not appear to be a need to move in this direction. We noted that there are many contracting firms busy working in the town along with the local residents who are showing great resiliency in their effort to move forward. Bonnie was extremely grateful for our visits on both days and particularly so with the on the ground work we did the second day since there is no one there to visit homes/homeowners personally in order to get accurate, detailed and up to date information as to their situation/needs. In speaking with Bonnie by phone after our return to Winnipeg on Thursday night she indicated that she has further lists of potential clients and that she would be extremely grateful for the same kind of assistance and outcomes that Dick and I had provided on Thursday. She will be in Northwood on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week ( 25 & 26) and so those would be the most appropriate for any other MDS investigative initiatives. I believe it would make sense for continuity and effectiveness if there was an overlap of personnel from this weeks to next weeks efforts. Given that this is a Manitoba Unit response ( I have involved myself initially because of the Region 5 Region 3 relationship) I should probably remove myself from more direct participation. The investigation works well with 2 person teams where at least one person has strong construction knowledge. Good people skills and recording skills are also an asset to such teams. Further discussion with Bonnie would help determine whether one or two teams would be in order (each team would need a vehicle to get around town, even though it is a small town). Dick Buhler, in spite of preparations to head to Pass Christian, has informed me that he would probably be able to devote another day to this task. Other names that have been suggested are Ed Penner, Altona, Abe E Ens & Dave Hoeppner, Winkler. If we were to need longer term case work, then we could possibly check to see if Glen Buck from Ontario was available but I see the latter as being premature at this point. Such further investigations will help determine the scope of the response and if it warrants MDS involvement in either the blitz or a sustained rebuild effort.

If we get involved at either of these levels, we need to think of a volunteer recruitment process, probably moving our tool trailer from Baldur to Northwood (this would involve restocking the trailer appropriately, doing a detailed inventory of tools along with current values and then completing a TIB at the American border.) As well, we need to remember that much of our potential leadership, which will be very much needed, will be unavailable during the blitz build phase. We would also need to give some thought to the possible rental of vans for mass transport of volunteers from southern Manitoba  locations. Dick and I also noted that many of the roofs in need of repair are 2 storey houses and may require sky tracks or similar hydraulic lifts in order to safely and efficiently make structural repairs and reshingle the roofs. A further thought that Dick and I would propose is that either as part of, or after the blitz build, that Manitoba send a small team of skilled volunteers to complete the work required at the BF residence. Bonnie Turner LDR, of course needs to be fully involved in this process.

A further trip next week should provide us with conclusive evidence as to if and how MDS should respond. This is a wonderful opportunity for us to be of practical help and a Christian witness to our neighbours in North Dakota who have suffered much and will soon feel the effects of a North Dakota winter. Ben, we will leave it for you to take the next step in this process.

In His Service,

Ron & Elaine Enns, Directors, Region 5 Mennonite Disaster Service