Hello, MMD.

I have been at my house in East Grand Forks since last Tuesday, and have
been working like mad to get the place cleaned up.  I got my phone service
back today and I know that my brother updated you somewhat on the
conditions of my house following the flood, but here's a current update.

I know that you have all seen the devastation on TV.  You can't begin
to imagine what it's really like unless you have been through a disaster.
The Red River divides the towns of East Grand Forks, Minnesota from Grand
Forks, North Dakota.  The first street from the river is (of course)
1st Street.  If you drive down any street from 1st Street to 42nd Street,
you see the same thing... piles (mountains in most cases) of junk that
was once a part of someone's home.  That's **42 BLOCKS!** away from the
river!  Very few people were spared from flooding.

I don't know why I have dry carpeting on the main floor of my home.  The
basement filled up completely and actually touched the floorboards of my
main floor.  Several joists are warped and there is mold everywhere.  The
water line on the outside of the house is at the bottom of my doors.
I am lucky that I have (had) tight sealing doors, although none of the
doors in the house will now close, including the bedroom doors and garage
doors.

I have several cracks in walls and ceilings of the main floor.  All
basement windows are swollen.  The back steps dropped about an inch.
My front garden wall attached to the house has collapsed, taking the
decorative brickwork of the front steps with it.  There is a hole
somewhere at the top of the foundation which cannot be seen, but when
we spray water up there from the basement, it goes outside.  I keep
finding new problems every day.  :(

It seems that my 3 pianos are dry.  There was a lot of humidity in the
house, but I have the de-humidifier running upstairs.  Yesterday, I played
a roll on one piano and it seemed fine.  The rolls look OK, too.  8-D

My work was flooded, too, so it is a nightmare to spend the day there,
then come home to my now demolished basement and continue the work.

I only have temporary limited electricity and no heat.  (It snowed last
night!)  We got drinkable water yesterday, but it will be mid-June before
I have a hot water heater and furnace and get my house rewired.

I'll write more later and I'll try to catch up on the MMDigests. (And my
sleep.)

Mark Van Essen
East Grand Forks, Minnesota