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Home > Mont Du Lac Family "Living on the Edge" of Flood Support

Mont Du Lac Family "Living on the Edge" of Flood Support

FOX 21 News, KQDS-DT
Sunday, July 1, 2012 - 6:57pm

By: 

Jacob Kittilstad

Photojournalist: 

Kaela Rannikar
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Mont du Lac, WI, USA -
DOUGLAS COUNTY-About twenty Mont du Lac families, All with Wisconsin addresses, have extremely limited options after June's dramatic flooding on the St. Louis River.Just over the bridge on Highway 23, Fond du Lac neighbors of Minnesota have been reassured by local and state leaders that many of their concerns will be addressed.But for the narrow strip of land farther south, neighbors say there have been no visits from Wisconsin representatives, no prospects of government aid, and absolutely no explanation on what to do as time goes on.Neighbor Ty Frost says he is living on the edge.Seriously, there's an 80 foot drop where his yard used to be."We're small and sometimes that hurts," Frost said.He's talking about his neighborhood, Mont Du Lac - a sliver of land just over the Wisconsin border hit by flooding comparable to some of the worst parts of Duluth.But Frost says he would take the water over what happened to his property. He lost 50 feet of land. He says its erosion was caused by the overflowing St. Louis River that was flowing 16 feet higher than normal."It's like a gravel pit here so this is the best ground I could be on. It's not like I was on clay," Frost said."I looked out the door and the back side of my hill slide into my backyard. It's an island that's probably seven feet deep with trees and everything. It's probably 80 feet wide by 150," Frost said.The changes are clear as Ty's wife, Sharon, shows off pictures from the past. She says the only official who has looked over their damage is a local town supervisor."They've been no real authorities to come check on us to see how we are doing," Sharon said."We talked to a fireman and he was trying to locate information for 911 purposes and we weren't even on the map," Sharon said."I had just had it. It was just a tough week. I just turned around and there was a big long line of people waiting to get their mail or whatever and I just broke down. I was crying. I was just so frustrated," Sharon said."Even for me, and I'm awaiting for a price tomorrow, to just retain this," Ty continued. "We don't want to bring it back to normal. We just want to retain this so we don't erode any farther because otherwise my house would be gone."The family also says despite being so close to Minnesota's flooding, Wisconsin has given no updates.To Sharon it means little hope for financial aid and even less hope for peace of mind."It's just been really hard to sleep at night when you hear the rain coming down," Sharon said.The area is best known for the Mont du Lac Recreation Area. Workers there are dealing with about $2 million in damages, general manager Michael Cameron said.While the area is open for camping, they are working on clearing their fifteen ski hills for winter after severe mudslides, Cameron said.Last week Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker did declare a "State of Emergency". That action helped local governments pay for unreimbursed damage costs to public infrastructure.The governor also directed all state agencies to assist people recovering from flooding.The people of Mont du Lac have had limited contact with Wisconsin officials, Frost said.

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