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Almost three hours passed from the time the first driver reported the washout until Victor and Joyce Gensmer’s Jeep fell about 30 feet down the embankment.
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Winona County Highway Department and Bennett & Sons Excavating of Plainview, workers fill the washed out portion of County Road 17 near Witoka that killed two people last weekend. (Photo by Andrew Link/Winona Daily News) |
Just as the rain that fell Saturday and Sunday overwhelmed the ditches and creeks that drain the bluffs of southeastern Minnesota, the ensuing chaos swamped emergency responders further hindered by blocked roads and destruction that continued to unfold throughout the night.
The Winona County 911 dispatch center was so inundated with calls they didn’t have time to log them all on their computers, said Sheriff Dave Brand.
The floods claimed seven lives in Winona and Houston counties and damaged thousands of homes in the region. Dozens of roads and bridges were impassable as a result of high water, downed trees and mudslides. Starting late Saturday night, Winona County authorities began evacuating residents from Stockton, Elba, and campgrounds near Whitewater State Park.
Even with the help of other counties and the National Guard, they could not be everywhere.
“We definitely did everything we could,” Brand said. “It was a horrible night.”
Brand said road conditions forced officers at times to detour 40 to 50 miles to get to places just a mile away.
While they were able to evacuate residents from Stockton, Elba, Minnesota City and Goodview, rescuers could not save everyone. In all, five people died in Winona County, including Jered Lorenz, who was swept into Rush Creek, and John and Shirley Micheel, whose car was overtaken by Garvin Brook near Stockton.
Hole in the road
Around 3 a.m., Melissa Losinski of Winona was driving on County 17 trying to reach family members whose home was flooding in Witoka. The road was already treacherous, and she drove slow to avoid fallen trees and mudslides.
When Losinski spotted a section of washed-out road, she turned around and headed back to Winona where she was able to get cell phone service to call 911. Assuming someone would be there soon to block traffic, Losinski found another route.
“Apparently it was too little too late,” she said.
Kevin Lindquist, Winona County’s highway maintenance superintendent, was overwhelmed with calls as roads collapsed, bridges crumbled and landslides blocked highways.
“There was so much going on and it was so hard to get from place to place,” he said. “It was whoever could get there first.”
Lindquist was on his way to the Hwy. 17 washout around 5 a.m., but couldn’t find a way to get there. The road from Winona was blocked by trees and mudslides, so he had to backtrack to Highway 43 to Interstate 90 around the top of the Witoka hill.
About that time, Jim Campbell braved the road as he headed to Winona to get an extra pump for his flooding basement.
Minutes from his home, on a road he drove every day, his Ford Escort wagon tumbled into the darkness, landing upside down at the bottom of the embankment.
He climbed out and flagged down another driver who took him home, where he called 911.
The road still stood open, awaiting more unsuspecting drivers.
Victor and Joyce Gensmer were on the road around 5:45 a.m., plenty of time to get Joyce to work by 6:30 a.m. at St. Anne Extended Care.
The couple made it less than a mile on Hwy. 17 before their Jeep Cherokee tumbled into the hole, landing on top of Campbell’s car.
Still five or six miles from the scene, Lindquist got a second call from the sheriff’s department. Two people had fallen in the hole and didn’t survive.
“It’s just one of them cases where we were too late,” Lindquist said.
Diane Mendez nearly became the hole’s fourth victim.
She was on her way to work about 5:50 a.m. and knew the roads were dangerous.
“The last words of out my boyfriend’s mouth were ‘take the hill slow,’” she said. “I had two guardian angels on my shoulder that saved me.”
As Mendez took the curve, slowing to about 10 mph, she realized what looked like mud on the road was actually a hole. She stopped five feet from the edge.
While waiting for her boyfriend to come help, a gray truck passed her, heading for the hole. Mendez honked her horn until the driver stopped. That’s when they all walked toward the hole and saw the two cars below.
“It makes me sick that this is a life they could have saved if they would have responded,” Mendez said.
The Gensmer’s son said at first it bothered him to hear the washout was reported long before his parents died.
“(But) then I think about what was happening over the entire area and there was just no stopping it,” said Bill Gensmer, 28, of Inver Grove Heights, Minn. “What’s done is done, and nothing can bring them back. They lived a long and happy life together and nothing can take away our memories.”
To help or get help
Winona Daily News has created a href“http://winonanet.com/shared-content/phpBB/index.php?c11“> an online flood recovery bulletin board /a> with comprehensive information on how to get n and give n help as well as the latest updates on road closures, cleanup progress and instructions.
Britt Johnsen contributed to this report. Emily Kaiser can be reached at (507) 453-3541 or ekaiser@winonadailynews.com.
Bill Gensmer wrote on Aug 30, 2007 10:10 PM: