Biwabik and Giant’s Ridge Area Feel Storm’s Wrath

Police watch area and lawmaker says damages in "tens of millions" of dollars

Some areas of the Northland had stalled cars, washed out roads and flooded basements. It other places, the earth literally opened up.

That was the case along a portion of the Mesabi Bike Trail near Biwabik, with a gaping cave-in between Giants Ridge and Highway 135.

Tuesday night emergency crews were called into the rainy darkness to deal with a first report of a washout. Little did they know.

“We found the initial washout. While we tried to determine how to get to the other side, we found the second washout which was much more devastating,” said Gilbert Police Chief Techar.

“It looked like most of the utilities were taken out. The gas line was intact, but the water and sewer were not intact. And we notified the Minnesota duty officer and notified everybody that we had a major issue. Whereas all of Giant’s Ridge and Voyageurs Retreat area lost their water source,” said Techar.

Fortunately, the city of Aurora is set up to be able to help get water to Giants Ridge.  Something guests at the Lodge noticed they were without about midnight.

For many area residents the problems were much worse. “The reports that I’m getting, the amount of basements that have flooded, it’s just staggering,” said Rep. Dave Lislegard from District 7B.

“I heard in one situation a basement collapsed in one of the local communities. So the more time that passes, the more devastation and the more we’re going to know how bad this storm really was,” said Lislegard.

Standing alongside a gaping seam across the bike trail, Chief Techar pointed out what was left dangling.

“The yellow line right there is the gas line. That is intact. It seems to be secure. Then down below that is the sewer line. That sewer line is mostly intact. And then the water line, which you can’t see, has completely been washed down towards the river. So that is obviously the main source of water for everything north of here,” Techar said.

Rep. Lislegard of Aurora said the damages are so extensive in the area that state and federal help will be needed. He said closer inspections across the region are expected to turn up the true extent of  the problems.

“When you have a storm of this magnitude, with a swath of devastation, funding is going to come. As you can see from the examples, this is significant. This is tens of millions of dollars to make things safe and restore to what they were,” said Lislegard.