Duluth Residents Still Rebuilding After 2012 Flood
DULUTH, Minn.- Perry Vitullo woke up around midnight five years ago when she noticed the river next to her house in the Fond Du Lac neighborhood was flooding.
“I was sitting in the living room, looking out the window, thinking I was watching the discovery channel,” said Perry.
Firefighters came by to evacuate families, but Perry and her husband Dick Vitullo decided to stay back and take shelter in the second story of their home.
“We’re up there watching, boats go by, docks go by, sheds go by, lawn furniture go by,” said Perry.
The floods shattered many of their windows, soaked the inside of their home, and caused considerable damage to the house that they had moved into just a year before. And since then they’ve spent years rebuilding what they lost
“The wave hits our yard, comes up about six feet, hits that window there, 5 feet up, glass smashes, water comes pouring into the house like fire hoses. The window I was looking out is the only one that didn’t break,” said Perry.
Five years later the Vitullo family home is almost completely restored. They just have one project left. Fixing the deck.
But it’s not just families that are still recovering from the flood. Cities like Duluth are still working to get everything back to how it used to be.
“We saw 47 million dollars worth of damage so far. That’ll be about what it ends up to be,” said David Montgomery, Chief Administrative Officer of the City of Duluth.
And though many hope a natural disaster like the flood of 2012 doesn’t hit the Northland again anytime soon, city officials believe next time they will be more prepared.
“This community pulled together amazingly well and I think that’s a tribute to this community, and the type of people we Have up here and their willingness to step in,” said Montgomery.
And the Vitullo family is just glad that despite the damage to their home, all members of the family, including their dogs, stayed safe
“I love challenges, I love disasters, I you know, I watched the weather channel to watch the hurricanes and things so, it’s only fair we got it too and we survived and did real well,” said Vitullo.
