This is the third in a series of stories of SMU faculty and staff who have suffered serious damage because of recent flooding. We hope that these stories bring to light how many people, in how many areas, were deeply affected. Please continue to keep everyone who is fighting to put their lives back together in your prayers.
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This photo was taken from aboard a rescue boat and shows the Mertes home, truck and RV underwater.
Pat and Jerry Mertes lost their Minnesota City home in the August flood. This photo shows a portion of their basement.
The Mertes home was lifted from its foundation by floodwaters.
Pat and Jerry Mertes
Recently retired
Central Services and Maintenance
Since the August flood, Pat and Jerry Mertes have had a quick answer whenever someone asks them what they need.
“A new house,” the two say with a smile, and without hesitation.
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Though the couple lost their Minnesota City home of more than 43 years and most of their belongings, they haven’t lost their sense of humor.
But it isn’t exactly the retirement the couple envisioned. (Pat worked in Central Services, Jerry in maintenance.) For starters, the RV in which they had planned to take many trips to Arizona and Oregon was destroyed.
Now facing daunting costs of having to completely rebuild, the two say they may never be able to purchase another RV. The couple had no flood insurance, and FEMA money allotted to them doesn’t begin to cover their future costs.
“A house is more important,” Jerry says. But the two, glancing at each other out of the corner of their eyes, don’t completely discount the idea that maybe an RV could be their new home. Some days, this idea seems better than others.
The Merteses were offered a FEMA trailer, but Jerry said they declined. So many others, they say, are much worse off than they are. The couple is grateful to have family to live with, that they don’t have small children, and that no one was killed in their neighborhood.
The two also consider themselves fortunate that they were not home, but were on vacation Aug. 18-19. They learned of the flooding when friends of theirs from St. Cloud called them after seeing the hotel near Pat and Jerry’s home being evacuated on TV.
“The kids didn’t want to tell us unless it was bad,” Pat said. “But they couldn’t get to the house; it was still under water, and they couldn’t get near it.”
The Merteses later discovered their grandchildren had just come by their home to borrow a dehumidifier shortly before the water level got dangerous. More, they say, to be grateful for.
The flood brought in about 4 1/2 to 5 feet of water outside their home, and about a foot of mud and water on the first floor. It was enough to lift the house off of its foundation and cave in a basement wall.
A neighbor of theirs lost his leg after escaping from a broken window. The deep cut, compounded by the contaminated water and a long rescue period, forced doctors to amputate. The Merteses say neighbors could hear him beg for help but couldn’t get down from their roofs to help him.
“I’m afraid of heights, so I wouldn’t have gotten up on the roof,” Pat said, adding that if they’d have been home, she knows Jerry would have heard their neighbor and, unquestioningly, he’d have tried to help, putting his life in danger; Pat shakes her head at the terrifying thoughts of “what might have been.”
By the time Pat and Jerry rushed home, their children and their friends had already emptied the main floor, salvaging very little, mostly clothes that were hanging high enough in the closet or knicknacks high enough on the walls.
Along with the RV, Jerry’s 4-by-4 Chevy truck — his “baby” — was destroyed, as well.
What is left of their lives now fits into a portion of their daughter’s garage. Jerry has carefully combed through the home, pulling out new lighting fixtures and salvaging new door handles. The couple had just remodeled several rooms in their home and had hoped to finish the project this winter.
When Pat and Jerry begin listing what was destroyed, the list grows with every second: most of Pat’s scrapbooks, including many years of treasured pictures; Pat’s craft materials; Jerry’s woodworking tools; many totes filled with Christmas decorations — so many things the couple had hoped to enjoy in their retirement.
The ironic thing, Pat and Jerry said laughing, is they had just talked about how they should downsize. “We downsized a lot faster than we thought,” Pat said, “All in a couple of hours,” Jerry added.
The two are living in Trempealeau with their daughter and son-in-law (and a menagerie of pets). Jerry said he had once teased them about building such a big house. Now, he says with a chuckle, he’s pretty glad they have the extra room.
The two expect their home to be torn down in a week or two and nod slightly as they admit it will be sad to see it go. Four homes in their immediate area are being torn down. The Merteses hope to rebuild in the same area, only 4 feet higher, but they are waiting to hear about possible state aid.
“There’s anger,” Jerry said, “People don’t think they got enough and that the government is not working fast enough.” Many families in their neighborhood, they say, had planned to move, but are now returning to the area because, as Pat says, “It’s home.”
“Life goes on,” Pat said. “There’s got to be light at the end of the tunnel.”
Jerry added, “It can’t get any worse.”
