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About 200 houses were damaged by the flood according to St. Charles Mayor Bill Spitzer. Real estate damage, not including land value, was estimated at $3.6 million for St. Charles by Steve Hacken, Winona County assessor. Public property damage in St. Charles was $108,555, according to Spitzer.
Hit hardest by the flood were homes on St. Martin Avenue and the Brookwood Mobile Home Park. Residents in six houses along St. Martin were forced to vacate for up to 10 weeks, according to Dan Pearson, president of Pearson Builders Inc., the company that did repair work on those homes. He estimated damage to those houses at $200,000. At Brookwood, 16 out of 19 mobile homes were rendered uninhabitable. Three residents remain, though they will be looking for a place to stay soon, as the town is working with the state to buy the lot and turn it into a public park. Mobile home owners will be reimbursed by the state; in the meantime, residents like Linda Reps live in an almost vacant lot.
“I miss my neighbors,” said Reps.
Also hit hard were five businesses and the St. Charles Assisted Living Center. Residents at the Assisted Living Center were evacuated during the flood, and staff said 10 residents did not return after the center was reopened. Repair work was needed for the Leather Guy, Brownell Drug, St. Charles Child Care, the White Valley Motel, and the Olmsted Medical Center.
Whitewater State Park is scheduled to reopen this spring, though in a limited capacity. The park sustained about $4 million in damage, according to park naturalist Dave Palmquist. Palmquist said Whitewater will open again April 1 for the catch-and-release trout fishing season, along with limited hiking.
Fifteen of 17 trail river crossings were washed out in the flood, and only five have been rebuilt. On April 11, two of three family campgrounds will be reopened, along with the Group Center and Group campground.
By May 23, all overnight campgrounds will reopen, though the picnic area and two out of three road bridges will still be out. Palmquist estimated that it might be one to two years before the park is fully repaired.
St. Charles Township had three roads washed out during the flood, according to Richard Pagel, a township supervisor. He estimated repair costs to be about $210,000.
Despite the hardships and business owners noted that, if one positive can be taken by the flood, it is a newfound knowledge as to what their community is capable of dealing with. Judy Sanders, a Brookwood resident who lost her mobile home in the flood, marveled at the help friends and strangers alike provided her family.
“You really don’t know until a time like this how wonderful people can be,” said Sanders.
