Southeastern Minnesota 2007 Flood

Houston Area











Thanks to Emily Hegland, Todd Lundberg, and all others who have provided pictures of the flood destruction. These photos help show the true tragedy many people are facing in their lives and hopefully ignite the donations of time and money to help rebuild.


Money Creek Haven

Top Three Rows of Pictures - 10/07


















Money Creek (North on #76)



Money Creek (Doblar Road)






Money Creek (Perkins Valley Area)

Top Row Pictures - 10/07






Looney Valley, Bush Valley, Storer Valley, Mound Prairie












County Road #9 Pics - Dawn Henk Here are several pictures of County Rd. 9 at about 7:15am on Sunday morning the 19th - before they closed it all off, Tricia and I were trying to figure out how to get out to Mom and Dad's house. . .their road was GONE (1st township road that was repaired was their driveway). Anyway our journey stopped at Witt's corner. The mudslides on Cardinal Hill were like driving on ice - otherwise I drove in the middle of the road because of the very undercut and scary washouts.


Moments That Will Never Be Forgotten Thank you to Dan Kildahl from Houston (Perkins Valley) for taking time to journal his flood experiences.

Saturday It started raining Sat morning about 6:30 or so and kept on & on & on & on & on ...Houston and the surrounding areas got anywhere from 13 to 17 inches of rain Sat morning to Sunday afternoon Pete was out and about so he was on his own. About 5 or so Dana, Jenna & I went to La Crosse to get some stuff On the way home we decided to stop at Duke and Eileen's for awhile. We were playing cards and Emily (their daughter) called about 11 or so to come to town to get her. Duke & I tried to but we only got a short way down their valley road. There was a mudslide so we went back up to the house to get the tractor with loader and chainsaw to get through it. We got through the first only to find another one. Duke was in the tractor trying to get through it when all of the sudden the bank and trees started coming down around him. He got out of there mighty fast... I don't think the stains will come out of his shorts tho. We got back to the house and Pete had called saying that he was stuck at a friends house because their driveway was washed out. At least we knew where he was. We ended up staying over night at Duke & Eileen's. Sunday... In the morning Duke & I went down to their main valley road to start clearing a path up the road. We finally got through!!!! We then met up with a Kevin (a neighbor) that had been searching for another neighbor whose trailer was washed away. Kevin had said that they had just found him dead and the coroner had just taken him away. Dave "Little Oscar" Ask lived alone in a trailer about half a mile from Duke's. Kevin and numerous neighbors had called him that night and told him to get the hell out. He didn't. We watched WCCO out of the cities and we heard all the talk about Rushford being flooded, and all the damage around Southeast MN. We went out to drive around and look at the damage. We had no idea what we would see. We were shocked. The main road to Houston from Mound Prairie had a bridge by Harold Van Gundy's that both approaches had washed out. We went back the other way and didn't get too much farther. We then were hearing on the news that they were evacuating Houston because the water was just about over the dike and they didn't know how much more it could hold. We were supposed to get another 3 inches of rain that night... it didn't come. At first it was a voluntary evacuation but then the put on a mandatory. Mom went up to Caledonia to stay with my Aunt Millie & Uncle Jim. A lot of the people went to Caledonia AmericInn. Chris and Amber helped evacuate the nursing home and assisted living and helped sandbag. They ended up going out to Dana's parents house in Looney Valley. Dana's folks had the bridge at the end of their road washout so they have had to walk across the creek to get to their house. Don't know when the bridge will get fixed. I wanted to get home to see how our house was doing. I talked to Todd Lundberg (our neighbor) and he said that the bridge at the end of our valley was impassable... both approaches had washed away about 25-30 yds. on each side.. I left Duke & Eileen's... went up Happel Hill... across South Ridge... to Ridgeway.... to I-90... to the Rushford exit... to Hart... wind my way back across the ridge and come down Christianson Hill. Dale Omodt and his family had cleared up Christianson Hill so you could at least get by. Didn't know what to expect when I drove in the yard, but everything looked okay. We had about a foot of water in the yard by the silo. There was a river about 4 feet deep between the house and the pole shed. We ended up only having a couple inches of water in the basement... it just kind of a old cellar anyway so it was no big deal at all. Dana called and said that Rushford was going to open the floodgates to let out some of the pressure behind their dike. She told me to take the dresses for Chris & Amber's wedding and get out. We didn't know what kind of a wall of water would be coming down river so I, Todd & Julie and family and June & Dale went up to Harris' house to wait it out. We moved all the vehicles up there... we didn't know what to expect. About 10pm or so Dale went back down to his house to check on the water and it had gone down about a foot and a half in an hour. I had Dana's ambulance pager with me and they were starting to feel like the dike would hold and the water was starting to go back down. We all decided to go back down and sleep in our own houses. June said she wouldn't sleep much and watch the water from her deck and make sure we were safe. Monday... The next morning they said they were letting people back into Houston at 10 am. I went to Houston to check on Mom's house about 8 or so. When I got to town (I had to take the long way) the National Guard was manning checkpoints at every entrance into town. I had to give them my name, address and license plate # and tell them exactly why I was going into town. They were just worried people might here that nobody was in Houston and we might get some morons wanting to help themselves to whatever. It was pretty surreal in town... hardly anyone in site... sandbags all over the place... Army vehicles and emergency vehicles all over the streets... and Blackhawk and other choppers flying overhead.. I checked Mom's house and everything was fine... just a couple of inches of water in the basement. Dana & Jenna were still out at Heglands so I went out there. Dana had taken Monday off of work but had to got to work on Tuesday. We left Duke's to try and find a way for Dana to get to work. By then they had Hwy 16 open to Hokah and on into La Crescent. We ended up going home through Money Creek (Vinegar Hill road was closed but we snuck up it anyway) About half way up there was a real bad washout of the highway but you could still make it. We were only home a few minutes when we heard the reports that we're supposed to get heavy rain that night. So I took Dana back downtown to Chris' to stay over night. Jenna & I were home alone. Tuesday... Got up and took Jenna to Houston so she would be down there. What is usually a 6 mile drive and takes about 10 minutes drive to Houston has turned into a 48 mile, 1 hour and 15 minute drive. I can get to Rochester faster than I can get to Houston now. They are making great progress on the bridge at the end of the valley and should have it good to go in a day or two. They are doing it faster than I ever dreamed. It is hard to get anyplace in SE Minnesota because of all the road damage. Just to name a very few number right around Houston... The road crews are doing a super job trying to get thins so they are passable Hwy 76 north to I-90 is closed due to 2 bridges being completely gone. Looney Valley Road is closed due to a washout near Mark Witt's Ron & Deanna's bridge is still washed out... don't know when that will be fixed Hwy 16 to Hokah has a lot of shoulders washed out but is passable Hwy 21 through Mound Prairie to la Crescent is closed because the road is gone in a few places Rushford had 4 feet of water in town. 3/4 of the buildings in Rushford are said to be damaged... water, mud...etc. They are just starting to let people come in to Rushford to get some things and get back out. They are escorting them in and out. I won't even begin to talk about the secondary roads They have said that about 90 - 95% of the roads in Houston County have been damaged to some degree. That is just Houston County... Fillmore and Winona and Olmstead all got whacked pretty good. Big Bucks to repair everything and get back to somewhat normal.