Last weekend we headed down to Minot and to be honest with you, in the back of my mind, I wondered if it was a good idea. I mean, I had heard the 'stories' about how the residents of Minot felt about the residents of Saskatchewan. I had heard 'stories' about how Minot felt that Saskatchewan was to blame for the flooding that had caused havoc on their city.
I had heard about how people's tires were being slashed and cars were being keyed. I had heard through the grapevine how the Mayor of Minot had 'apologized to Canadians' for what was being done including harassment of Canadians.
But regardless of having heard these stories, we headed down there anyways.
As we drove in, I wasn't really sure what we were going to see. And honestly, I hadn't given it too much thought. But as we approached the city, we were down to one lane of traffic and the amount of water was obvious. As we continued forward, the reality of the situation set in. Passing Minot State University was the first glance at what was to come, as army personnel lined the roads and piles of dirt were being transformed into monstrous dykes.
As we approached the river, the prominence of army personnel and vehicles continued. As we went over the bridge, I turned my head to the right and felt a sickness set in.
I mean I have seen examples of the great amount of preparedness work that has be done in a number of communities throughout Manitoba as they prepared long ago for the possibly of flooding. I have seen sandbag after sandbag and city worker after city worker. I have seen photo after photo of the flooding.
But I have never seen, in-person, the damage caused to houses that water can cause. The dyke that has been built alongside the river is a clear division between the saved (as of right now) and the saved-nots. Houses have been overcome by water, many sitting in feet of water.
Now, before I continue, I need to admit something. I am a geographer, so I know the risks of building in certain geographical areas. The courses I took in university clearly outlined these. Don't build on a flood plain, don't build in an earthquake prone area, don't build on a landslide prone area. That is what I believe and as I result, I will honestly say even though I micht act that I too believe that people are responsible for their choices. Unfortunately, building along a river means building in an area that is prone to excess water. Sometimes, there is a price to pay, most times there is not. And I will be honest in saying that in terms of those that build in hazard-prone areas, most times my thought pattern is what were you expecting?
But as I drove across the bridge, I found myself eating my words. My sense of sympathy for people took over what I believe. I felt sick to my stomach. And as we drove on and the army personnel continued, the feeling of sickness grew deeper and deeper.
My day in Minot meant seeing 'flood resource areas' in stores and overhearing conversations about whether a house was still ok or whether a family had been evacuated.
I have to say that as I saw the devastation, any concern that I may have had about going down to Minot, went out the window. I didn't think about it once while we were down there. We were treated very well and our vehicle came home without a scratch or a slice.
Upon arriving home, I thought "were those stories really true?" So I set to researching it and what I found out was don't believe everything you hear. A quick phone call to the Minot Police there has been no documented cases of the harassment of Canadians by Minot residents according both the city police and tourism board. I am not saying that there has been no one that has been harassed down in Minot as a result of the flooding, but from what I have researched and what I have seen, there has been no evidence of it happening. And judging by the line of vehicles from Saskatchewan and Manitoba in the store parking lot, if something was happening, the police would have heard about it. So remember, something heard through the grapevine is just a story until you have taken the time to discover the truth, put yourself in that situation or see it firsthand.
