Cat is man’s best friend: A Rushford plumber and his Rottweiler pitch in to help, comfort after flood
By Elena Grimm | Winona Daily News

RUSHFORD, Minn. — You could say that Cat is man’s best friend.

For Jeremy Volkman, Cat, a 2-year-old Rottweiler, is not only his best friend but his partner in helping flood victims clean up and move back to their homes.

Jeremy Volkman and his 2-year-old Rottweiler, Cat, have been helping with flood cleanup in Rushford, Minn. for the past five weeks. Cat, with Volkman's help, can haul 600 pounds in the wagon. "He just wants to help people," said Volkman. (Photo by Paul Solberg/Winona Daily News)

Since his hometown of Rushford flooded five weeks ago, Volkman has spent about 80 to 100 hours a week doing “whatever needs to be done,” he said.

Cat has been with him every day. Cat rides in Volkman’s red Ford pickup into town, where Volkman hitches the 130-pound dog to a wagon for bringing water and supplies wherever needed.

On Saturday morning, the 33-year-old plumber was hauling hay. The afternoon he spent replacing plumbing at a home.

Volkman’s own house suffered only a wet basement in the Aug. 18-19 flood that hit about two-thirds of the town’s homes. He spent the early hours of the morning after the storm pumping water out of his basement.

Then he took his first walk through town. After seeing diesel fuel from Kwik Trip floating on top of the floodwaters and the roofs of trailer homes sticking out from what he calls “a big trailer court lake,” Volkman knew how lucky he was.

“I almost felt bad not getting flooded,” Volkman said. “It’s horrible to watch everyone else go through this.”

Instead of watching, Volkman and Cat pitched in. He has opened his home to friends who lost their homes, including a woman with three children and three foster children. Others have been in and out of his house the past month, along with pets.

When parts of town were blocked off, Volkman admits he had to sneak in or “politely ask” to be let in. He said that the work he does is in return for all the people who have helped him.

“It is my regular job; I’m just not charging as much for it,” he said.

Volkman grew up in his grandmother’s house in the Brooklyn section of town. Now, what’s left is a wood frame of 2-by-4s.

“I used to go in the house and you could smell the aroma, and once you smell it you almost see your grandpa,” Volkman said. His grandfather died shortly after Volkman graduated from high school.

After graduating from Rushford-Peterson High School, Volkman spent 10 years away from Rushford, but he and his wife, Candi, moved back to raise their sons, Dalton, 15, and Gaige, 11.

After pumping water out and seeing the deterioration that lay underneath, Volkman said that the hardest part will be keeping the value of Rushford the way he knows it — a small, safe community to raise children.

“I guess the future of Rushford is pretty uncertain,” he said. “They say it’s a 1,000 year flood, but it could happen tomorrow.”

Volkman has owned Rottweilers since he was 16. Cat, short for Catastrophic, is the opposite of what his name implies. A hard worker, the dog provides comfort for people who need it, Volkman said

“He is something to hug,” Volkman said. “And Cat got a lot of hugs in all this.”

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