WEATHER: Ada at it again
Homeowners sandwiched between rivers and ditches fight all too common fight

By Stephen J. Lee
Herald Staff Writer

Tuesday, June 11, 2002 - ADA, Minn. - By mid-afternoon Monday, Kevin Ruud had time to pause from the flood emergency here and fill out a permit for a rural resident building a garage.

The bit of normal business was a welcome respite from the too-common habit of flood-fighting Ruud and the town of Ada have grown accustomed to in the past few years.

"It's that time of year again," Ruud said ruefully in his office, where he serves not only as emergency manager, but also as planning and zoning administrator and solid waste officer for Norman County.

"But we're holding our own."

Flood focus

Norman County received more than 8 inches of rain Saturday night and another 1 to 2 inches Sunday, Ruud said. More rain threatened Monday.

Topography makes Ada a flood focal point.

The Wild Rice River comes from the east and forks off south of Ada into the Marsh River, which flows northwesterly, closer to town. Meanwhile, "Ditch 51" cuts across the north side of town, big as a river and rising late Monday. It all means lots of water moving from the east through Ada, headed for the Red River.

The only way in and out of Ada on Monday was State Highway 9, going north from town.

But by mid-afternoon, it seemed the waters had crested, "if we don't get more rain," Ruud said.

A severe thunderstorm warning threatened to dump more water on the area, but that warning lapsed at 8 p.m. without any significant rainfall.

Battle won?

As the flood fighting went on, the feeling of victory was in the air. Geri Kesselberg sat somewhat triumphantly on a big log that had been dragged out of Ditch 51. She and her husband, Ken, and several friends had been hauling logs and debris out of the raging stream to keep the culverts open under Highway 9 and the water from reaching their home a few yards away.

"It's running now," she said. "We used that 1989 Dodge Ram four-by-four."

Deb Nelson, Gary, Minn., and her sister, Kelly Hanson, came to sandbag in Ada.

"The fire department from town came to help me last night at my home," said Hanson, whose home several miles northeast of Ada is surrounded by water. "So I came over today to help."

Wearing a muddy, sleeveless sweatshirt, Hanson threw sandbags around Delores Adkins' house with dozens of others, including people from surrounding towns.

Many came to help, seeming to remember the many floods Ada has suffered, Ruud said. "People just showed up and said ‘Where do I go to sandbag?' " Adkins said it worked.

"Right now it's in a holding pattern," she said, about 8 p.m. "They brought many, many, many loads of (sandbags). And they are three high."

Like '97?

Adkins has lived here since 1966 and doesn't say thanks for all the memories.

"Unfortunately, this is a lot like '97, and that is the scary part," Adkins said. "We didn't need a repeat."

The water rise actually appears worse than in the big flood of 1997, or the other big flood of 1975, Ruud said.

A National Guard unit from Fort Ripley brought in big equipment, and working with county, state and private contractors, added a foot to the dike around Ada.

"We had built that dike up to a foot over the 1997 flood level, but we figured that wasn't enough," Ruud said.

When a railroad bed culvert south of town washed out, several homes got flooded and a few people left their homes for a time, Ruud said. But otherwise, the damage seemed limited in town.

Rural repairs

Across the county, damage was much greater. The Norman County road engineer estimated that in at least 10 locations roads or culvert-bridges were damaged to the tune of $50,000 to $150,000 each, making the total bill for road repair as high as $1.5 million or more, Ruud said.

The hardest hit seemed to be the southeast corner of the county. Gerald Lien has lived there on a farm near Flom for 59 of his 60 years and has never seen rain like he got late Saturday and Sunday.

"It was about 12 inches, if anyone had a gauge that could hold it," he said. "But when you have 5-gallon buckets outside and they fill up and are running over, you know it's got to be a lot."

Township roads all around him are washed out or damaged, the gravel gone, Lien said.

His soybeans got pounded by hail, covered by rising waters, washed out by flooding waters or covered by silt left by the torrent, Lien said.

But it will take a week or so to know how much damage has been done to crops, said Lien and other farmers in the county.

In 1997, Ada's 1,700 people had to be evacuated from the ice storm and flood of April, and homes and schools and business were ruined or damaged. This year the water was as high or higher, but the work done since 1997 helped keep the damage down.

"We've gotten so used to it," Ruud said.

Reach Lee at (701) 780-1237, or (800) 477-6572, ext. 237; email slee@gfherald.com.

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