Evacuated 2011 - Day 28 - July 19, 2011

We are in the process of emptying out the upper kitchen cabinets and pantry. Storing everything in bins for later use. The basement is empty of water and it appears to be staying down. We  did not get our drains plugged in the basement before evacuation, In retrospect that was probably good. The houses with plugged drains had more water to pump out. We have been in contact with a couple different agencies to see about getting some help to clean out the basement and demo all the walls. We will see what develops there. In the mean time we keep doing some everyday to make slow progress. Temporary power should be installed today or tomorrow. This will eliminate the need for the generator going all the time. It is  abit noisy but it was great to have it when needed. Minot water supply is back to normal except for in the evacuation zones. We can not use water and so have not been able to flush the contaminated water through the system. The debris is piling up on boulevards all around. Contractors have been hired to remove it. We have a construction dumpster on order and it should arrive in the next few days. The lawn will probably have to be dug up and replaced with new dirt and seeded or sod put down.... next year perhaps. It is covered in 2 - 3 incheds of clay silt that is like concrete when dry and like slick ice when wet.
Work is still progressing on new channels, dikes and future flood control. No word yet as to what or where it will be.