By Charlie Warner
Argus News Editor
“We experienced two floods here several weeks ago. The first resulted
in considerable damage to our campground. The second was the flood of
love poured on us by many, many volunteers who turned out to make
repairs, clean things up, and helped us get our business back in
operation.”
That’s the way Dawn Johnson co-owner of Dunromin Campground, rural
Caledonia, summed up the highs and lows she and her husband Peter
experienced following the torrential rains of June 7 and 8.
“When you consider the damage we sustained, it’s amazing we were up and
running by Friday (June 13). If not for all the wonderful folks who
turned out to volunteer with the clean-up, there’s no way we would have
been open less than a week after the floods,” Johnson added.
“The media coverage we received, especially from the Twin Cities,
really hurt our business,” Johnson continued. She explained a Twin
Cities reporter was camping at Dunromin during the eventful weekend.
When she and other campers were evacuated, she saw a story, called it
in, a helicopter was dispatched, and Dunromin made the 10 o’clock Twin
Cities news.
“We’ve had so many people calling to cancel their reservations. They
all think that we’re done for the season. Nothing could be farther from
the truth. That TV coverage made a mountain out of a molehill.”
Camp Winnebago status
Dunromin is one of two Caledonia area camp grounds that suffered
significant damage the first weekend in June. The other was Camp
Winnebago, located just two miles farther east.
“We’re fairly dried out now,” Camp Winnebago Director Rande Gustafson
reported last Wednesday. “We’ve had FEMA representatives here, who have
estimated damages at around $80,000, most of which was for the three
bridges that were destroyed, and several service roads that were
eroded.”
While the lower camping area was completely inundated with flood water,
the upper campus was spared of heavy flooding, although there was some
minor water damage in some of the buildings.
“Our camp sessions are up and running in our upper buildings,”
Gustafson noted. “But it will be another week, probably June 27, before
we will be open for camping in our lower campground.”
While the flood damage to Camp Winnebago was significant, Gustafson
feels it pales to what residents in Iowa and throughout other areas of
the Midwest have faced or will be facing. It will be some time before
all three of the footbridges will be replaced, but Gustafson said they
are currently working to replace at least one of the bridges, so
campers can utilize the entire lower camping area.
As with the Dunromin clean-up project, Camp Winnebago received copious amounts of volunteer help.
“We’ve got a great staff here and have many people turn out to help us
with our clean-up efforts,” Gustafson added. It’s amazing how many
caring persons there are living in this area. They’ve been a very big
help.”
State, county parks spared
Both Beaver Creek Valley State Park and Wildcat Landing County Park received very little damage.
According to State Park Manager Anne Selness, staff evacuated the
campground at 1 p.m. on June 8 due to high water in the creek crossings
through the campground. Water was as much as three feet over the creek
crossings at one point on Sunday.
The campground was only closed Sunday night. Five loads of rock were
brought in Monday to fix washouts along the campground road. The park
re-opened Monday, June 9.
“There are still some trees down on walking trails in the park, but
otherwise, everything is back to normal. We will need to do some bank
stabilization, but that’s about it. We received 6.5 inches of rain over
the weekend. We were lucky,” she concluded.
Although they received nearly 10 inches of rain in the Brownsville
area, Wildcat Landing Park Manager Jake Lonkoski said the county park
located on the Mississippi River did not sustain any damage.
“We had a few branches down, but that was about it,” Lonkoski said. “We
didn’t have to close the park, or evacuate anyone. But with all the
extra water coming into the Mississippi from the Root River, the river
is much higher, and there is quite a bit of debris in it.”
You can contact Charlie Warner at
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