As floodwaters slowly recede in the town of Cook, residents brace for a long recovery
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Northeastern Minnesota got a welcome reprieve from Mother Nature Friday. Sunny skies and dry, warm weather helped floodwaters receded in the town of Cook, where Gov. Tim Walz and other state officials visited to tour damage from the flooding that ravaged the small town this week.
Still, the town remains partially submerged. Water covers several blocks of downtown. Several homes and businesses remain flooded. A stack of black sandbags surrounds the historic Comet Theater, which was flooded with several feet of water earlier this week.
Walz and other officials toured the flooded downtown in amphibious vehicles provided by the St. Louis County rescue squad. In places the water was so deep the vehicles completely floated. Mailboxes barely perched above the surface. The owner of a lumber store in town saw some of his inventory floating past.
Residents described how quickly floodwaters rose on Wednesday. Ashley Franks, who runs a pharmacy in Cook, said she had four feet of water in her building. Much of it has receded, but not before destroying up to 20 percent of her inventory, she told Walz.
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Theresa Drift said her basement was dry on Wednesday morning, after she and her son mopped up rainwater that spilled in. But then sewage water began pouring out of her toilet and sinks.
“It went from completely dry to probably three or four feet of water by Wednesday evening. I had a really fast sump pump, but it couldn’t keep up.”
Drift told the Governor she has flood insurance, but said she knew it won’t cover the cost of the cleanup and the water heater and other appliances she’ll have to replace.
Drift implored the Governor to do anything he could to help her town.
“My neighbor across the street he lost all their family memorabilia. My neighbor next door runs a day care. Her backyard totally flooded. She can’t run her day care; she’s got to clean all of that up.”
John Jordan described a similar scene at the laundromat he co-owns in downtown Cook.
“Tuesday night, I had water coming in the laundromat. We stopped it,” said Jordan. “Wednesday morning the place was dry, I had customers and by the afternoon I was underwater.”
Jordan said the water rose so fast they couldn’t keep up with sandbags. They eventually gave up and left.
“The community really depends on that laundromat. And I have no idea when I’ll be able to open again so the community can use it,” Jordan said.
Both Jordan and Drift told the Governor they felt there should have been more advance notice of the flooding. They also said sandbags were not available on Wednesday when they were most needed.
Walz told them he’d look into the response to see how the state can improve in the future.
St. Louis County emergency operations manager Josh Brinkman said at first wetlands soaked up much of the rain that fell upstream of Cook. But when those wetlands became saturated and started to release water, the water rose incredibly quickly and quickly inundated the town.
“It was a difficult situation for sure,” Brinkman said.
Nearly eight inches of rain fell in less than 12 hours near Lake Vermillion, near the headwaters of the Little Fork River, which flows through Cook, said National Weather Service meteorologist Ketzel Levens. “And even here in Cook, it was like three to four inches in that time period, which is impressive on its own.”
Levens estimates that parts of downtown Cook could remain flooded through the weekend, with minor flooding persisting into next week.
Now the focus is on recovery.
“There’s a real sense of urgency, fast, fast, fast is the way to go to try to get things up again,” Walz told residents.
Officials will assess the damage over the coming days and weeks, Walz said. Then the state will likely apply for a federal disaster declaration. If that threshold is reached, FEMA would reimburse the state for 75 percent of the cost to replace public infrastructure.
The state would cover the balance through a disaster assistance contingency account that will be replenished with $50 million in state funding to help communities around the state recover from emergencies, Walz said.
“The bottom line on this is that we’re committed together.”
Walz also toured the town of Biwabik, where local officials took him to a section of the popular Mesabi Trail that had been cleaved in two by raging floodwaters, leaving a 20 foot deep ravine that exposed a natural gas line and sewer and water pipes.
Officials also reported significant damage to the nearby Giants Ridge recreation area, and flooded basements across the Iron Range.
State officials and local residents praised neighbors for helping neighbors respond to the flooding. Theresa Drift said even vacationers helped fill sandbags this week.
“This is terrible, it’s really terrible, but we’re safe,” she said. “Most of our stuff is ok. A lot of people have really pulled through to help.”