Posted: 9/11/07
Legislators gets first-hand
look at damage in Hokah
By Thomas E. Hammell
For the Caledonia Argus
Ken Tschumperís first term has been something of a crash course in disaster relief and Wednesday he showed legislators from other parts of the state just how badly strong rains damaged southeastern Minnesota.
Tschumper (DFL-La Crescent) and other legislators, spent September 5 showing the Capital Investments Committee just how bad the damage to Winona, Houston and Fillmore counties was.
Tshumper is hoping to pass a $100 million disaster relief bill to give direct cash assistance to home and business owners in the area.
"I have to say itís really overwhelming, 60 percent of the damage for the seven county area has been in my district," he said. The representative has been touring the damaged area himself and even spent three afternoons in Rushford cleaning out businesses.
Wednesday afternoon committee members filing out of a bus in Hokah could see the debris left by the flooding right away.
Hokah Mayor Jerry Martell told the group the storm hit at about 2:30 a.m., cutting off power and stranding a fire truck.
"Itís kind of a sick feeling when you have five or six firemen looking at the fire truck with nobody around," he said.
Politicians listened as town residents told about the problems the downpour had caused.
Judy Colsh said the flooding affected her house directly, but was concerned that the city had enough money to rebuild.
"Weíre fortunate, because, well, weíll get through it," Colsch said.
Brenda Kimball, owner of the Junction Inn, said the damage left her wondering what to do next.
"We donít want to rebuild at this level, because weíve sandbagged three times in three years," she said.
Tschumper said the tour and the meeting afterwards at the Winona City Hall made an impact on the legislators.
"I think it really made a big impression on them, the amount and severity of it," he said. "They really started realizing that it was going to take a lot more money than they thought."
Tschumper said home and business owners need cash relief, not loans. Because many of the affected were not on the floodplain, so they did not carry flood insurance.
Timing, he said, is critical as business owners wonder whether to rebuild.
"If the sense is that nothing is going to happen, why would you want to struggle and keep on going," he said.
Martell said in a later interview that the town still faced the problem of cleaning up debris and trying to save its waterfall. The second problem was the damage to Highway 44 and Highway 16.
"Those banks could still slide," he said.
Tshumper said he hoped for a special session, but was not optimistic.
"Weíre working on this every day and Iíd like to be optimistic, but frankly I donít think the governor is going to come through and Iím angry about it," he said.
Committee chairís reactions
"It is impossible to understand the overwhelming scope of the damage the people in these communities are facing without seeing it firsthand," said State Representative Alice Hausman, chair of the House Capital Investment Finance Division. "This tour reinforces the need for the Governor to act quickly to call us into a special session, so residents can be reassured theyíll have the resources they need to keep them going during the long and arduous recovery process that lies ahead."
Caledonia Argus
314 West Lincoln St.
P.O. Box 227
Caledonia, MN 55921-0227
507/724-3475
E-Mail: editor.argus@ecm-inc.com