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No Flood Damage Reported to Roseau (MN) Churches
ROSEAU, MN (June 13, 2002) - More than half of the 2,755 residents of this rural
northwest Minnesota community have been forced to leave due to severe
flooding, with at least two members of local Covenant churches affected by
the rising water, Covenant News Service has learned.
Roseau, located 10 miles south of the Canadian border, is home to the
Evangelical Covenant Church in Roseau and Bethel Mission Covenant Church,
located just outside of town.
Extremely heavy rainfall has created record water levels in the Roseau
River, according to an Associated Press report. The river level of 23 feet
is more than two feet above a 1996 record level. Minnesota Gov. Jesse
Ventura has declared a state of emergency in that area. No major damage has
been reported at the Polaris snowmobile manufacturing facility, however,
which is the community's largest employer. The local hospital and schools
also have escaped damage so far.
The Evangelical Covenant Church of Roseau has not suffered any water damage
to its building, according to Pastor Joe Elick who spoke by telephone late
this morning. (The accompanying photo shows Elick welcoming delegates to
this spring's Northwest Conference Annual Meeting held at the Roseau
church.) However, the homes of some church members are a different story.
About two dozen people are now staying at the church and a nearby Lutheran
church.
"I would say that easily over half the town has evacuated - we even
evacuated - and about 75 percent of the homes have sustained structural
damage," Elick said. "Our driveway washed out overnight and there is water
all down the main street and all of the businesses have damage. In some
places, water is waist high."
The U.S. Army of Engineers is attempting to construct a dyke to divert
water back to the Roseau River, said Elick. The Red Cross and Salvation
Army have sent representatives. "They couldn't get sandbags in here fast
enough, so they sent some by helicopter," added Elick, who has been the
Roseau pastor for 13 years.
Roseau experienced rainstorms beginning Sunday and continuing throughout
Monday. "Rain was coming so fast it was like a fog," said Elick. "Now, the
fields up north are like huge lakes."
Bethel Mission Covenant's facility has suffered little damage, said member
Pam Pearson, who lives in nearby Salo. She said that some parishioners are
in downtown Roseau and expected that they might be experiencing problems.
Her workplace, a dental office in Roseau, has been flooded since Monday, so
she has had time to help friends whose homes have experienced flood damage.
"It's pretty much a mess," she said.
In Rainy River, Ontario, a town of 1,000 located about 50 miles east of
Roseau, flooding has damaged the basement of the Evangelical Covenant
Church of Rainy River. Co-pastor Mark Mast said that the town's residents
have been trying to deal with the damage. Last spring, the
church experienced similar damage when the Rainy River flooded.
"Last year we had to gut everything," Mast said. "This year, it didn't go
more than four or five inches, but our kitchen was hardest hit - all of our
kitchen cupboards have to be replaced."
Baudette, Minnesota, lies right across the border from Rainy River, but the
Covenant church there only had minor leakage. Scott Christensen, the pastor
at the Covenant church there, reported that a dam in Atikokan, Ontario, has
suffered some structural damage. Mast said that if the Atikokan
dam breaks, water damage to Rainy River and Baudette could become
unmanageable.
"We had a family in our church whose driveway was completely wiped out,"
said Christensen. "And other families have had problems. They're
sandbagging all over in Rainy River, which is on lower ground than us."
Off Lake Covenant Church in Emo, Ontario, lies between Rainy River and Fort
Frances. The church has had water in the kitchen and basement area, said
Tina Johnson, whose husband Marty is the church's pastor. The parsonage has
also had flooding in the basement and another family was evacuated from
their home. Yet another family reported damage to a basement and other
places.
"Basically, everybody got water," Johnson said. "It was a matter of how
much. We can't even drive out of our yard, so we've had people bring stuff
in. Bridges have been washed out and pieces of highway are impassible."
Fort Frances, Ontario, a town of 9,000 that includes a Covenant church,
lies 60 miles east of Rainy River. The church hasn't had flood damage, said
pastor Ken Johnson. But the town has suffered much damage and most roadways
were closed for a couple of days.
As if flooding weren't frustrating enough, there is more rain expected to
northern Minnesota and parts of Ontario.
More information about the floods will be posted on this news site as it
becomes available.
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