Craig Sanders, a retired meteorologist who lives in Duluth, talks about his experience with the Duluth flooding, bailing out water from his house. He also comments on the job meteorologists have to do.
The official Duluth total rainfall on June 19-20, 2012, was 7.25”, with Duluth International Airport breaking several rainfall records during this weather event. Locally high amounts in the 8–10-inch range were reported throughout Duluth neighborhoods and along the North Shore of Lake Superior. The steep terrain, and numerous creeks and rivers, played a significant role in the devastating damage and flooding that occurred in the Duluth community. The Fond Du Lac and West Spirit Mountain neighborhoods of Duluth and Thomson Township in Carlton County were evacuated, and a raging Kingsbury Creek flooded the Lake Superior Zoo, drowning over a dozen animals.
Transcripts
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[MUSIC PLAYING] CRAIG SANDERS: My name is Craig Sanders. I live in Duluth, on the East end of Duluth, in the Congdon neighborhood. Last night, it was about 10:30, it started to rain kind of heavily, and I knew that some of the drainage from the neighbor's lawn reaches my lawn. So I went outside to see if I could divert some of the water. And that's when I first saw the water starting to leak in maybe a 2 by 3 foot window well.
Looking from the inside out, the window looked like an aquarium as the water was rising. It would have filled the whole window well up if I hadn't gotten out there to start bailing the window well. And the window, when you're standing in there is about chest high. So there was a lot of lifting and repetitive motion.
The 5-gallon bucket, I would get about 3 gallons every time I filled the bucket. So after about four hours of doing that, I've calculated I moved almost 6,000 gallons by hand. Ibuprofen is my friend, I'll tell you that right now because it just got to my back after all the lifting, and I was Weather Service forecaster for 33 years. I'm just glad I'm not doing that anymore.
I'm not saying I would rather bale water rather than go to work for the Weather Service, but those were hectic times. And I respect the guys and women who have to provide that service these days.
SPEAKER: That's Craig Sanders, a retired meteorologist, as he mentioned, who lives in Duluth, getting his perspective here on Minnesota Public Radio News. He's a source in our Public Insight Network.