mar 29
2009

Floods Remembered

Old time (very old time) readers of this site know that the last time the Red River of the north flooded (12 years ago), I lost everything I owned in the fire that started in the middle of the flood. (People have short-term memory for these things, but it was the largest evacuation of an American city in the 20th century. Brokaw broadcast live on location for two nights, and it was the only time Bill Clinton ever cried on national television. This Pulitzer-winning photo shows the block with my apartment and the newspaper I worked at.) I've been hitting refresh on local news sources and contacting old friends all weekend. It currently looks like the damage won't be as bad, but that doesn't make The Big Picture's slideshow any less eerie or reminiscent.

5 comments

isn't there a Discovery Channel video of you re-enacting your escape somewhere?

posted by adm at 8:46 PM on March 29, 2009

Yep, the show was called "Storm Watch." You can still occasionally catch it on Discovery or The Weather Channel.

Oddly enough, I'm in the middle of writing an essay about it for a book about reality television!

posted by Rex at 8:48 PM on March 29, 2009

dayum. you should seriously consider moving to safe, peaceful, and warm Miami.

where the girls are pretty.

posted by alesh at 10:10 PM on March 29, 2009

Wow, I feel like such an OG Rex follower. Soul Asylum live from the Grand Forks prom!

posted by Brian Marston at 12:15 PM on March 30, 2009

Haha, yeah, here's my weird review of that.

posted by Rex at 12:18 PM on March 30, 2009




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