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The city of Houston called for a mandatory evacuation around 5 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 19, when it started to rain again and the Root River reached 18 inches to the top of the levee.
“If it rained not much more — another inch or two — it would’ve been worse,” said City Administrator Jerviss. “At one point, the only place to go was Caledonia.”
A bridge on Minnesota Highway 76 was wiped out. The banks along Oak Ridge to Rushford were washing away. There were landslides in Hokah.
“I think the scariest thing was evacuating the city,” said Mayor Fred Huhn. “We had to tell people to go home and lock up their house, and you have a half an hour to leave the community.”
Jerviss estimated about 350 of the city’s 1,020 residents sustained major flood damage, but he said everybody in town had varying levels of groundwater seepage in their basements.
“The city itself was relatively unscathed, but the areas north of town took a hit,” Jerviss said. “Several homes were completely destroyed in Money Creek.”
Money Creek Campground lost its swimming pool, office and restaurant. Debris still litters Money Creek and the Money Creek families range in their recovery process. One family lives in a FEMA trailer, another put in a brand new house and the rest are either rebuilding or cleaning up, Jerviss said.
Since the campground will reopen on time April 19, Jerviss didn’t think it would impact tourism to the southeastern Minnesota camping hot spot. The Root River Bike Trail managed to stay out of harm’s way.
The flood was an initial boom for Houston’s grocery and hardware stores, Jerviss said, but not many local businesses were damaged except for Eastwood Bank’s basement full of records.
Life is different in Houston, Huhn said, and recovery will be long process. For a while, many residents called the city every time it rained after the flood, Jerviss said.
“I don’t know if we lost anybody or if anyone’s going to move away for fear the town might flood,” Jerviss said. “But I think people now have a greater respect for nature and the fact the flood levee did its job and held the water.”
