Reflections Following the Flood

I spent Saturday in the Duluth Superior area to get some work done at the Golden Inn.  It was also a chance for me to take a first hand look at the flood damage in my hometown.  While I didn’t see much of the city, it was quite apparent that the damage was quite extensive.  Like here showing Highway 23 near Jay Cooke Park, I road I used to travel with my parents on as a child working at the father’s previous restaurant, the Jade Fountain.

When I arrived at my mom’s house in Duluth, I instantly ran into a sinkhole in the driveway.

A minor inconvience, yet a notable reminder how hard the rains were coming down.  Nearly 11 inches of rain fell during the storms.   In fact, I had to alter my route to the Golden Inn from my mom’s house because Highway 2 was closed due to a mudslide that blocked off the road.    From what I saw, apparently Target (i.e. Best Buy competitor) was closed for some time due to some excessive water.

However, it appears that the floods did less public infrastructual damage in Superior than it did in Duluth.  This is perhaps because Duluth is a hilly city where the water hits the hill and gains momentum down the hill, acting like a hammer against anything it hits.   Houses built on the sides of hills were having sediment washed out from under them, leaving them prone to mudslides and other calamities.  Superior, on the other hand, is quite flat.  While there were some significant areas of public infrastructural damage, it appears that it was mostly just flooding of basements, parking lots and buildings.  Here is a sinkhole by Barkers Island, a quarter mile from the Golden Inn.

I’m very glad that my mother’s property and the Golden Inn did not suffer much infrastructural damage, as they stayed open throughout the storms and floods.   The only call I got was from my mother from the Golden Inn telling me that the restaurant phones were out and she was quite irritated that customers couldn’t call in their orders.  So seals are floating across the street from the zoo and my mother is irritated that customers couldn’t call in their orders.  That’s a lady myopically focused on the bottom line.  I gave the only answer I can, “What do you want me to do about it?”

All and all,  I am glad that no one died, there was no Katrina and that I can freely go to and from the city like I am used to do doing.  But it’s also a reminder of how easily the Almighty can show that circumstances are not solely in our control.  Perhaps some wisdom can come out of these events.