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Jul 20, 2008 1:55 pm US/Central
Rushford Residents Happy To Be Home
RUSHFORD, Minn. (AP) ―
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The flood devastated two-thirds of the buildings in the southeastern Minnesota town of 1,696. (File)
Eric Humble
Eleven months after a devastating flood, more and more lights are coming back on in Rushford.
Take Don Woxland, 83. The businessman and his wife, Laurine, are putting the finishing touches on their new modular home. It replaces a 13-room mansion the Woxlands lived in for 62 years -- a home lost last August when floodwaters brought 3 1/2 feet of muck into the first floor.
The Woxlands' neighbors across the street have a newly built home. Their next-door neighbors have a foundation and basement started.
Woxland says he's glad to see normalcy return from Rushford's rubble.
"This is one of the first homes done in town, and it's good to show it off and say Rushford is getting back to normal," Woxland said.
The flood devastated two-thirds of the buildings in the southeastern Minnesota town of 1,696.
City administrative assistant Heather Larson says official numbers of Rushford residents who have rebuilt or moved back into a new or replaced home are not yet available. But the city issued 440 building permits in 2007 and 150 in 2008. Rushford averages 75-80 building permits a year, according to Rochester-based Construction Management Services.
About 75 Federal Emergency Management Agency mobile homes once sprinkled the town after the flood, but that number has dwindled to 17, Larson said.
The Woxlands spent most of their recovery at their condo in Arizona. They never got water in their Rushford home before, and the destruction was too much to take in, he said, so the couple packed and left one afternoon last fall.
"It was a big old home here -- 114 years old," Woxland said. "It was hurt beyond what my wife wanted to repair."
Their new three-bedroom modular has improved kitchen appliances as well lighting and plumbing fixtures. Woxland's love for old clocks and Norway can be found throughout the home. They came back home in May.
Savings allowed the Woxlands to bounce back to the upgraded modular home and thousands of dollars in landscaping.
"I tried to save some money, but I think it's about gone," he said.
Woxland couldn't find a picture of his old home, except for an engraving on the back of his future headstone in a Rushford cemetery.
It was Woxland's 83rd birthday the night of the flood, Aug. 19. He hoped his 84th year will bring better luck.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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