Spirits in Roseau Rise Higher Than the Flood Waters

ROSEAU, MN (June 18, 2002) - They sang "Deep and Wide" at the Evangelical Covenant Church in Roseau Sunday, a lighthearted way for the church to respond to floodwaters that have devastated this small northwestern Minnesota community.

Rain began to shower Roseau on June 8 and increased steadily for two straight days, leaving the town of 2,755 in liquid peril. The Roseau River overflowed and the town flooded, halting business activity and damaging countless homes and businesses throughout the area. The accompanying photos show the exterior and a downstairs area of the Anne Johnson home in Roseau. A Roseau contact said the family saved most of its belongings by moving the items to higher areas in the house.

The rain subsided over the weekend, giving the town and local churches pause to consider how God and their neighbors would help them cope with the tragedy.

On Sunday, the Evangelical Covenant Church of Roseau began worship with the song, "A Mighty Fortress is our God." Pastor Joe Elick gave his congregation plenty of time to thank God for the way the community had blessed them. "Deep and Wide" was sung as part of a bevy of choruses coming near the end of the service.

"We had a great service Sunday," said Elick, who gave a devotion based on I Corinthians 1:3-11. "I realized that in that text Paul was preaching about being persecuted for preaching the gospel. But I talked about how God gives us permission to talk about the most vulnerable moments of our lives. Paul began talking about the hard times by praising God and I look at how the outcome of hard times is praise. I told them to leave the flood with the 'P' word in mind."

It has not been easy for anyone in Roseau - even pastors aren't excluded from suffering in this situation. Pastor Elick and his wife, Julie, have been cleaning up the basement of their home for days. They are staying with friends a few miles out of town. A handful of churches were closed due to flooding. Elick invited townspeople to his church during the local radio show broadcast last Friday and about 150 attended, a large turnout considering that most of the city was evacuated.

As for the Elick home, "We just keeping hauling stuff out of our basement," said Julie. "We're exhausted."

The Roseau Times-Region reported that the town is heavily involved in cleanup efforts. The newspaper's printing press is located in Grand Forks, North Dakota, so the weekly newspaper could publish its Monday edition. However, phone lines are down at the local newspaper office and at other places. Emergency electrical plugs have been installed at most homes so that residents can clean up the flood damage.

"It's a mess and everyone's trying to clean up," said one newspaper spokesperson. "The flood levels are low and we can drive through the town now. However, we've learned that there is a flood warning going on for tonight and tomorrow."

Although the flooding in Roseau has made all of the national media reports, 21 people from the Evangelical Covenant Church of Roseau cannot fully comprehend just how bad things are. The church's youth pastor, Bruce Helgeson, was in Jamaica last week with a team of 20 others doing mission work. He and others will come home to residences that may require complete gutting in some cases.

Last Friday, President George Bush declared 13 northwestern Minnesota counties, including the flood-ravaged Roseau area, a federal disaster area. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is now authorized to provide "expedited" assistance to the area. The local Salvation Army has been a godsend in providing food and a Roseau Assembly of God congregation has been used in food preparation and parking many cars belonging to residents.

Officials said half of Roseau's residents fled to temporary shelters or stayed with nearby relatives during this week's record flooding. About 25 people stayed at the Evangelical Covenant Church in Roseau for a time and three campers were parked in the church lot, according to Elick.

Dikes were successful in protecting the city's school, hospital and its largest employer, the Polaris Industries snowmobile and ATV plant. Heavy rain filled the Roseau River to a level of 23 feet, more than two feet higher than its previous high mark.

Flooding had implications for those attending both the Evangelical Covenant Church and Bethel Mission Covenant Church. As at Elick's church, Bethel's building didn't suffer water damage. It is located outside of the town, located 10 miles south of the Canadian border in the northwest part of the state.

Elick has been encouraged by the number of Covenant churches interested in helping the town. Polaris has enlisted resources to help townspeople clean up the homes in Roseau and the Northwest Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church is planning on helping Roseau Covenant churches in the future. Right now, however, the town is still in the process of assessing damage before coming up with a game plan that best helps the community.

Bethel Mission Covenant Pastor Bill Fisher said his congregation has experienced much damage in their homes. "We have one family that has lost everything - water is all the way up to their kitchen windows and they lost all of their belongings," Fisher said. "With another family, a lady had water come into her basement and several feet of water tipped over the refrigerator and freezer.

"One office manager at a local dental office found out she lost a job because they can't re-open the dentist office," Fisher continued. "There's no way to rescue the building. And it's yet to be determined who else will be out of work because of the contamination. Some work in grocery stores that have been closed for a week."

Sunday worship at Bethel Mission Covenant was important for Fisher and a congregation trying to pitch in to help those in need. "We know that everyone's got to go on and we need to look to the Lord for His miracles. We talked about how we could help one another and we met after church to discuss how to specifically help those in need."

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