By Jerry Burnes/Iron Range Today

COOK/BIWABIK — River Street in downtown Cook was dried out, with cars parked along both sides, as the sun, clouds and blue skies belied what the last few weeks were like, and what lay ahead. 

Devastating floods washed through the small Iron Range town of 534 in mid-June, damaging nearly every downtown business and about one-third of the homes, with reports that water levels rose to more than 8 feet in some areas.

Residents and business owners left to first grapple with the high waters and salvaging efforts, now faced the daunting uncertainties of insurance claims, how to rebuild and what disaster assistance would come from the state or federal government.

At the Montana Cafe, owner Megan Strong estimated hundreds of thousands in rebuild costs. She had insurance, but no flood policy to file a claim on the lot and building that’s existed since 1908. 

Inside, the classic hardwood floors were bowed and the walls torn down to the base. The fate of the building was still uncertain.

Strong bought the downtown Cook staple at 22 years old in 2018, the same month she graduated from the University of Minnesota Duluth. She told U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who toured the area on July 3, that six employees at the restaurant remained “up in the air” on returning or seeking other employment.

“We lost our community gathering space,” said Elizabeth Storm, a city councilor in Cook.

Federal disaster aid to public infrastructure was triggered for the state at the end of June following floods across the Iron Range, and in southern Minnesota that caused a partial dam collapse in Mankato. 

Officials were confident St. Louis County would reach a $921,000 threshold for federal aid to homeowners as damage and flooded basements totals tallied up, but business owners have found themselves in a different situation. 

Federal loans can cover repairs, and grants are available through state agencies, but businesses don’t receive the same type of direct aid as homeowners and municipalities. Some, like Franks Pharmacy, are moving ahead on plans to relocate within Cook, off River Street and onto Highway 53.  Others, like Montana Cafe and the Comet Theater have seen donations from the community pour in from Go Fund Me accounts.

Ryan Horner, one of the Comet Theater owners, had fans running at full blast inside as he sifted through items that lined the outside of the building. Horner and his wife, Stephanie, live upstairs and had minimal damage to their home, but the business side did not have flood insurance.

“We already have a business loan,” Horner said to Klobuchar. He intends to research federal assistance and grants through the Department of Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation. “We’ve just been so busy getting everything out of here.”

Klobuchar said federal and state officials needed to look at how they can blend efforts to better assist business owners. IRRR Commissioner Ida Rukavina said the agency’s grant leaders have started looking at where the government programs can combine, and where else the state can provide help. 

Federal aid was more clear cut in Biwabik where a collapse along the Mesabi Trail interrupted water service and threatened sewer and gas lines to area residents and Giants Ridge. 

Biwabik City Administrator Jeff Jacobson said rough estimates on rerouting utility lines off the Embarrass River were about $350,000 based on what the city looked at after 2018 flooding, but inflation prices would likely exceed that figure.

The washout also prompted closures and cancellations at the Giants Ridge, and severed a portion of the trail that tourism officials said could take years to replace and reroute. The paved path that draws thousands every year into the Iron Range area was a less straightforward issue when it came to federal aid.

“We have to figure out how we can get federal funding for part of it, because you don’t want to lose that money you would get to fix it,” Klobuchar said. 

Water was still bottlenecked in some areas and around several lakes in early July, creating high points around the city of Embarrass, near Lake Eshquaguma and further south to the bridge on Highway 53 near Cotton, without a clear path for water to recede into. Two homes south of Biwabik remained inaccessible to residents. 

The larger picture is something Biwabik Mayor Jim Weikum said the city will remain in the conversation about as future solutions for other communities are researched, and noted there could be underlying issues for funding to address. 

“It’s not clogged, there’s just no place for it to go because it just keeps hitting high water,” Jacobson said. “We’ve got urgent requests to remove the stuff that’s in the Embarrass River and the diversion channel, which will need to go at some point, but this is what it’s looking at emptying into — overflowing water as it is.”

Back in Cook, the push for homeowners to submit flood damages to reach federal thresholds gave way to the stark reality of what the town and its residents faced.

Mayor Harold Johnston said 160 homes were impacted, about one-third of the total in Cook. Some of those homes were lost, added Storm, the city councilor, who noted a family that moved to Hibbing since the floods: “They just said, ‘That’s it.’”

Theresa Drift, a resident who was forced to temporarily stay with a friend after several feet of water inundated her basement, said she paid over $1,600 a year for $90,000 of insurance, with a $10,000 deductible on her home. The flood insurance portion only covered the structure. 

She met Klobuchar outside the Comet Theater, where she reported her water heater broke off the foundation and the house would need new appliances, electrical and more.

Drift was still unable to return to living in her home.

“Hopefully this weekend,” she said.