Pay attention! And a request. . . .

[Richmond]

I am a long time CCW holder and martial arts practitioner/teacher. I have studied with some of the top people in these fields. I have written articles on mental preparedness, defense, etc. I teach classroom courses on this stuff, among other things. I generally think that I have good habits of awareness, alertness, examining surroundings, etc.

SHTF scenarios can happen, and often quite differently than we imagine them. This weekend, I had the house to myself, and Friday I stocked some fresh steaks, etc. Saturday morning I went out and thought, "Gee, it is raining hard!" so I ran the dogs on site with my little motorcycle. I went in, did some work, and went out to my dojo/gym to work out. I thought, "Gee, it is raining hard!" I trained for a couple of hours, then grilled a steak, noticing that it was raining really hard. I put some laundry and saw that my basement, which has fieldstone walls and always seeps a bit of water in a prolonged, heavy rain, was taking in some water and that it was coming in around one of the window frames. I thought, "Gee, it is raining hard!" Watched a movie, then headed out to my "smoking porch" where I had a box of CAO cigars and Hunter's Time to Hunt. I thought, "Gee, it is raining hard!" Sat for hours, reading and smoking. Heard sirens, but figured there was an accident out on the highway. Heard a helicopter a couple of times, but the flight path for the Myo or Gunderson Air Ambulance goes right over my valley. Went to bed.

Saturday, I wanted the day off - so I had my phone off, didn't watch broadcast TV or work on-line. So it wasn't until Sunday when I went to leave my little compound that I discovered that, starting at the end of my drive, the SHTF.

I live up a mile long drive in a valley, about 100 feet of elevation over the city. The bridge on my drive is stone and about 100 years old, so it did not wash out. The road at the base of my drive was drivable sunday, but right across the street was water - 3 to 5 feet deep in some places.

I live in Winona County, epicenter of the flash flooding disaster in SE MN. A rain guage in Witoka, on the ridge over my house recorder over 17 inches of rain in a 24 hour period from 7 am saturday to 7 am sunday. Right now, the "official" count sounds like 15+ inches. Hundreds of homes in the county destroyed, many more damaged, thousands currently homeless including friends and clients, 9 dead in Winona County, more death and damage in Houston County, right to our south on the Iowa border.

Embarrassing that I was sitting unawares in the midst of it all - not paying attention. A big lesson in that.

Bad news, of course - we have to deal with FEMA:

http://www.winonadailynews.com/

FEMA sending assessment teams as residents grow frustrated


By SCOTT BAUER/Associated Press Writer

STOCKTON, Minn. (AP) -- Federal emergency officials were in Minnesota Wednesday to assess the damage from recent flooding, the first step in seeking a federal disaster declaration.

Melynda Petrie, a spokeswoman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said that nine assessment teams could be reviewing the damage by Wednesday afternoon.

The teams will look at the need for individual assistance - such as for homeowners, renters and small business owners - as well as public assistance - such as for roads, government properties and overtime pay for emergency workers, Petrie said. The assessment teams are made up of officials from FEMA, the Small Business Administration the state and other entities.

FEMA officials were scheduled to meet with state, local, SBA and other officials Wednesday afternoon at Rochester Community and Technical College, Petrie said in a telephone interview from Rochester.

"This is just the very first step in a process," Petrie said. The data gathered is sent to the state as the basis for its request for a disaster declaration from the president, she added. The process could take a few days or a few weeks.

"FEMA not a first responder," Petrie said. "The first step is damage assessment."

On Tuesday, when a preliminary survey showed thousands of homes in southeastern Minnesota were affected by the flooding, President Bush said the federal government would move quickly to process requests for help.

But some residents are already getting sick of the wait.

"I think it sucks," said Jeff Strain, as he stood beside muddied boxes of Christmas decorations, a bike and other household goods piled on his driveway. "We need to know what's going to go on so we can start making plans. ... As far as government, I haven't heard anything."

Strain is one of hundreds of people in southeastern Minnesota trying to recover from Saturday's flood that killed at least seven people, including 37-year-old Jered Lorenz, whose body was found Tuesday four miles from his car. The flood also damaged and destroyed thousands of homes and caused an untold amount of damage.

The National Weather Service said late Tuesday that heavy rains over the weekend may have set a state record, with 15.1 inches recorded in Houston County. If the State Climate Extremes Committee approves that value, it will be a new 24-hour rainfall record for Minnesota.

The old 24-hour record was 10.84 inches of rain measured on July 22, 1972, at Fort Ripley in Crow Wing County in central Minnesota.

A preliminary "windshield" survey by the American Red Cross identified about 4,200 homes affected by the flood, including 256 complete losses, 338 with major damage and 475 that are still inaccessible, said Kris Eide, the state's director of homeland security and emergency management.

Eide said she was confident flood damages would surpass the $6 million mark required for a federal disaster declaration.

Access to the town of Rushford is still restricted, with residents allowed in only with a government escort, Eide said.

The state Health Department also warned Rushford residents that the city's water supply is unsafe for drinking and should not be used for cooking, bathing or other household purposes until further notice.

Police also were investigating a reported theft of guns from a home in Stockton, and Winona County Sheriff Dave Brand said police would allow only residents into the affected communities. About 240 National Guard troops were also in southeast Minnesota, helping with protection.

Brand estimated that Winona County roads alone sustained more than $3 million in damages.

With furniture, carpeting, clothes and virtually every household item imaginable deposited outside flood-damaged homes, patience is starting to wear thin. Three days after the storm hit in the dead of night Saturday, and cleanup well under way, flood victims are wondering where to turn.

These flood victims watched as survivors of Hurricane Katrina waited for assistance that was slow in coming. Now they are starting to wonder if history is repeating itself in Minnesota.

"It's awful slow," said Walter Hines, 70, who's been staying at a Red Cross shelter in Winona since Sunday after his Goodview apartment was flooded. "We'd like to get out as quick as we can."

Bush, in Minnesota Tuesday for a fundraiser for U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, said "a flood of help" will be coming to southeastern Minnesota, including possible housing assistance and aid for small businesses.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty urged patience this week, but also cautioned against expecting miracles, especially given that many flood victims don't have insurance.

"Being able to get flood insurance is very difficult and it shouldn't be," Pawlenty said. "Insurance is going to be a huge issue."

Margaret Hines, 68, said she's been treated well at the Red Cross shelter in Winona, but she's not getting enough information about what to do next.

"I know it takes times ... but it's not fast enough," she said. When FEMA does arrive, Hines is optimistic she will get assistance even though she had just canceled her renter's insurance in August and had no flood insurance.

"I just can't imagine they wouldn't help us in some way," she said.

Strain, who also was without flood insurance, wasn't as optimistic.

"We probably won't get any help," he said.

Good news - the local government and emergency response people really have their stuff together, and performed incredible rescue and response. Fortunately, the city of Winona itself was relatively unscathed (the county is about 60,000, with roughly 30,000 in the city and the remainder in the small towns, villages and rural bluff-lands). This allowed the city's officers, personnel and resources to respond and assist in the hard hit rural areas. There are local universities not yet in session with large capacity buildings for emergency shelter.

So, a request to all of you to keep the people of these small communities in your thoughts and prayers as we dig out and start to rebuild.

 

[Fred Fuller]

If you can sit unaware in the middle of all that, you've done a lot more things right than you've done wrong. Major among them being your choice of real estate. Paying more attention to the larger area around you might not hurt though.

Do you have a scanner (police band multichannel radio) by chance? Might look into getting one, it's a good way to have a better handle on what's happining in your community- things that won't make the paper or the evening news that you still might need to know about. For example, we've had the opposite weather here- very dry. So wildfires are a problem. Keeping up with where a nearby blaze is can be a very good thing to do if you live in a rural area.

Glad to hear you're doing OK, sorry to hear of the difficulties your neighbors are having. I've been seeing the story mentioned online but I don't watch TV much either...

lpl/nc