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CNN Live Today

Interview with Darvin Schoenborn

Aired June 24, 2002 - 10:07   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go across the country, because in Minnesota, you know, it has been known as the land of lakes -- well, land of 1,000 lakes. And today, people are scrambling to keep their homes from being swallowed up by the expanding bodies of water that are plaguing that state. Up to foot of rain has fallen across northwestern Minnesota since Saturday night, and just days after that area was declared a flooding disaster.

Residents are piling up sandbags as the Wild Rice river spills across Norman and Mahnomen Counties, and the crest is still days away, the worst may be yet to come.

For the latest on this developing story, we are joined on the telephone right now by Darvin Schoenborn. He is the mayor of Mahnomen -- good morning, Your Honor. Are you there?

DARVIN SCHOENBORN, MAYOR, MAHNOMEN, MINNESOTA: Good morning.

HARRIS: Thanks for taking time to talk with us. We know this is going to be a busy day for you. Can you give us the latest update?

SCHOENBORN: Excuse me -- it has been kind of a long night. Actually the last two nights have been awful long. We were out with sandbaggers, and we have the casino in our town. They built an earthen dike yesterday, and that seems to be holding, and the other dikes seem to be holding. Our water is starting to go down now this morning. So we are hoping for some more decline.

HARRIS: Yes. I know most -- a lot of our viewers may be more familiar with the fire story out west, because we have been covering that one for weeks. But did you all get much notice or time in advance of this flood, this wall of water heading your way, before were you able to get people out and take care of structures?

SCHOENBORN: No. Actually we weren't. It's just one of those fronts that came in, and it met -- and it just basically sat over the top of us and just pounded us for several hours. And actually some of the residents went into their homes, thinking that it was going to be OK, because the waters actually did go down. And then all of a sudden they came up at kind of a rapid rate, and it was just a point where you just had to tell them, grab what you can, and you have got to get out.

HARRIS: Yes. Point taken. We are looking at some of these pictures. I don't know if you have a monitor near you, but we are watching these pictures, and it looks like the place is an entire -- it's a lake itself now.

SCHOENBORN: Well, our town itself is pretty much to the north of it, and it is quite safe. But we have a lower area with the river running through it. And it goes through our golf course, and it swallowed up our golf course and a lot of the homes are along that golf course and then on into town past the casino, and that's where we are having our problems.

HARRIS: OK. Well, any idea -- are you situated well for right now in getting as many supplies in and out of there, or do you need extra help?

SCHOENBORN: Actually, we are doing quite well right now. We have the Corps of Engineers and we have the Red Cross and the Salvation Army. They are all in here helping us out. And then just last night, the people showing up and helping to sandbag was unbelievable. There were people standing next to me that I have never seen before.

HARRIS: That's one of the great things about this country, when you see people come together like that, and we have seen that happen time and time again. How many people do you have out there sandbagging?

SCHOENBORN: Well, as of today, we don't have anybody out sandbagging anymore. I mean, last night I couldn't even tell you how many we had.

HARRIS: Yes.

SCHOENBORN: There were areas where they had to sandbag around homes. And basically some residents there and their relatives have stayed there at the houses and saved those two. We did save two by then staying there and pumping, and then we did have an area down by our local park, where we pumped all night and had somebody watching the dikes and filling the holes. And basically, we have got that pretty much handled. We just hope that they will hold.

HARRIS: OK. Well, here's hoping that it does too as well. We are wishing you the very best up there, Mayor Darvin Schoenborn, of Mahnomen, Minnesota -- thank you very much -- of Wisconsin, right, I am sorry. Thank you very much -- no, it is Minnesota, my mistake. Thank you very much for your time this morning, and we wish you the best. Good luck. Get some rest if you can. You do sound very tired.

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