Ripples in the water

After catastrophic flooding for Dickinson County, what's next for locals?

After an incredibly wet month with more rain to come, citizens of Dickinson County have been hard at work assessing the damages to their homes and local businesses. The historic flooding has had a lasting impact on residents who are now doing what they can to recover from the catastrophic event.

DISASTER IN NUMBERS

According to Mike Ehret with Dickinson County Emergency Management, Spirit Lake has received 33.44 inches of rain — 16.8 inches of rain came in June alone, 25.51 inches altogether during the May through June period. In comparison, the average amount of rainfall for an entire year in Dickinson County is 29.08 inches, the average for January through June being 14.53 inches.

Compared to June of last year, it rained approximately 13 inches more this year.

An historic storm rocked the area June 21-22, 6.69 inches of rain falling on the county — a storm that Colin Klingbeil with Jacobson-Westergard predicts would only happen once every 50 years. According to Klingbeil, most of the 6.69 inches of rain that fell between June 21-22 did not soak into the ground, but instead immediately became surface runoff. The peak runoff was 1.5 times the amount of what would normally be expected from the same rain during average soil moisture conditions.

A LOOK AT THE LOCAL IMPACT

Events were cancelled, some businesses were temporarily closed, but one of the largest impacts of the flooding, besides the hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages, has been the impact on the local tourism economy. Several business owners across the Iowa Great Lakes Region have been experiencing incredibly low numbers of patrons in comparison to the output of previous years, some fearing they may even be put out of business.

While numbers remain strong on the weekends, according to The Ritz owner Taylor Genrich, the weekdays have been a slog.

"The weekdays are really slow," Genrich said. "Nobody is around and there's nothing going on. We're definitely down — this is not like a typical summer by any means."

The Ritz saw some damage done to its deck, dock and three-season room — even a portion of the parking lot was under the water for a short period of time. Though the full extent of the damage is unknown, Genrich remains confident that the restaurant will be able to recover, one day at a time.

"The weekends — we're holding in there," Genrich said. "Considering we're still up and running, that's a positive."

Arnolds Park Amusement Park suffered extensive damages to its docks, including the popular Pirate Jack's bar, which is currently still under the water along with the boarding dock for the Queen II, Arnolds Park's historic steamboat.

"We haven't been able to have the Queen out since that flood came through," said Arnolds Park Amusement Park CEO Jon Pausley. "All the docks were damaged to the point where they couldn't just be repaired, they have to be completely taken out. It's certainly had an effect."

Pausley says that he hopes to have some docks repaired within the next few weeks, depending on whether or not the emergency wake rule is lifted.

"Everyone's still encouraged to come down and enjoy the amenities without the water," Pausley said. "We're still hoping people enjoy the concerts, at the very least."

Over at Parks Marina, damage has thankfully been minimal.

"We took some precautions ahead of the original rainfall," said assistant general manager Nigel Hanson. "10 or 20 motors had to be dried out — not terrible, in the grand scheme of things, as far as physical property damage goes."

However, the damage to business is still felt heavily. Due to the emergency no-wake rule currently being enforced on the lakes, renter traffic has diminished significantly.

"The flooding has impacted everyone dramatically across the lake," Hanson said. "It's impacted the folks who were getting out and about. There aren't as many folks here. We're still busy, Barefoot Bar still has a full bar, which is wonderful, but it's definitely a bit slower. Boat traffic is down significantly — it's always harder to buy a boat when you can't go for a test drive with the wake deal."

Time is a big component in recovery, according to Hanson. The hope currently is that the wake rule will be lifted within the month. For now, Hanson says that Parks Marina is working together with others, such as Mau Marine and Ducky's Marine & Powersport Repair, to help mitigate the impact of the flooding on the community at large.

"The community really rallied together here, and we got everybody to help," Hanson said. "Seeing people come together is an amazing part of it too. Having the cross-marina cooperation, it's been a really good thing to keep us together."

"We're really going to have to wait out the summer," said Pausley. "There's still a lot to offer that's not on the water."

COMMUNITY COMES TOGETHER

"Summer's still going on," Hanson said. "Summer isn't over yet. There's still tons of fun to have on the lake. Even if you have to take it slow on the waters, it's still going and it's going to still be a great summer even with this little hinderance behind us."

Through all the difficulty the Iowa Great Lakes Region has endured over the last month, community ties remain strong as Dickinson County residents pitch in with volunteer work and donations. The flooding is also reason, according to Pausley, for tourists to support more onshore local businesses.

"A big silver lining is that a lot of places that are normally off the water, off the beaten path, can now have a chance to be discovered," Pausley said.

Spirit Lake High School athletes gathered on June 24 to fill and load sandbags for residents in need. A day before, June 23, Okoboji Community Schools loaded seven busses with emergency supplies to ship off to the folks down in Spencer who suffered extensive flood damage.

Arnolds Park/Okoboji Fire and Rescue worked with the Spencer Fire Department on flooded roads and rescue assistance.

St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Milford even opened its doors on June 24 as a cooling center for any who found themselves without power or being displaced by the flood.

Dickinson County Cattlemen, ISU Extension and Outreach, Dickinson County and Clay County came together in Spencer on July 1 to serve some burgers to Spencer locals.

"People need to be patient and appreciate what they have." Genrich said. "We're all in this together."