Rescue on the Crow Wing River
Pillager firefighters help woman from her Azalea Road home
An ice jam on the Crow Wing River between Motley and Pillager Tuesday backed up water around several residences, including one in which a woman and her three dogs had to be rescued by Pillager firefighters.
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Mary Rudolph smiled Tuesday after the Pillager Fire Department rescued her from her home on the Crow Wing River near Pillager. An ice dam on the river caused the water to rise quickly, trapping her and her three dogs inside her home. Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
The Crow Wing River was at 7.91 feet Tuesday afternoon, an increase from 7.17 feet Monday afternoon and 5.62 feet on Sunday afternoon. The record stage for the Crow Wing River is 12.1 feet. A flood stage isn't known.
Pillager Fire Chief Randy Lee said about 3:30 p.m. firefighters outfitted with cold water suits and a boat rescued the woman off Morrison County Road 28, also known as Azalea Road.
"She was trapped," Lee said. "There was probably about 75 yards of water around her house."
Jason Wickham rowed a boat Tuesday through the water to check the basement of Arnold and Shirley Olson's home on the Crow Wing River near Pillager. An ice dam on the river caused the water to rise around the house where he also lives. Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
Mary Rudolph said about 10 a.m. Tuesday she went outside and saw the water was starting to cross her driveway. She went back inside her home to make some preparations, including shutting off the propane and calling her son, Neil Rudolph, who was going to pick her and the dogs up in his canoe once he got off work. By 1 p.m. the water was over the bank and the driveway was under water.
"I kept saying, 'I'll be fine, it'll go down,'" Rudolph said with a laugh. "And no, it didn't. It was enough where I wasn't going to walk out. I'm sad because I love it here but I'm just thankful that I'm out. I heard some trees and ice hitting my porch and that made me nervous. That was right before the rescue boat got here."
Rudolph, who has lived there for six years, said she got a call from a DNR conservation officer who told her they were
monitoring the rising water and they would come and get her if she didn't feel safe. Rudolph said she packed clothes for a week to stay with her son. She said the area flooded last year, too, and she had to leave her home for 11 days. The neighbors had told her it floods only once every 10 years or so. The water had gotten into the crawl space of her home and her shed was half-submerged but Rudolph said the house is built up on the property, which helped keep it relatively dry inside so far.
Pillager firefighters guided a flat bottom boat to her front door and helped her coax her three large dogs into the boat. Rudolph and her dogs rode in the boat while two firefighters, dressed in cold water suits, walked along each side of the boat. She said at times the water was over their heads.
"They were fantastic, those guys were just great," Rudolph said of her rescuers. "The one guy had to practically swim here."
Rudolph said she has insurance and had been preparing for something like this to happen by parking her car on top of the hill. She works as a nursing assistant for one of Woodland Good Samaritan's Samaritan Houses.
"I honestly thought the ice was going to go out nice," said Rudolph. "Most of the neighbors thought it was going to go out nice, nothing was jamming up but within an hour and a half - boom. That's life on the river. I'm not hurt, I didn't have to swim out and I kept my sense of humor."
Rudolph said she lives between two seasonal lots and both property owners have campers that are underwater.
Lee said the Crow Wing River was rising rapidly Tuesday afternoon, coming up about eight inches in the half-hour his firefighters were at Rudolph's residence.
Morrison County Sheriff Michel Wetzel said deputies helped evacuate a couple residents whose homes were threatened by the flooding. He described the flooding as moderate but not dangerous.
"It seems to be pretty isolated to a pretty short stretch of the Crow Wing River," Wetzel said of the flooding. No roads were in danger, he said.
On the Cass County side of the river there have been reports of minor flooding, Sheriff Randy Fisher said. Deputies were checking for flooding between Staples and Motley and the area of Lake Placid in Pillager. Lee said firefighters also were checking out the Cass County side of the river.
Chief Deputy Tom Burch said five to six houses flooded near Pillager Tuesday afternoon but the water was receding Tuesday night.
"Evidently there was an ice jam but we think it broke loose," said Burch. "It sounds like it's flowing good again."
In March of 2009, an ice jam on the Crow Wing River backed up water into dozens of residences and flooded several roads between Motley and Pillager.
No warnings have been issued by the National Weather Service in Duluth for the Crow Wing River.
A flood warning remained in effect Tuesday for the Long Prairie River, which empties into the Crow Wing River near Motley. At noon Tuesday the Long Prairie River in Long Prairie was at 6.9 feet. The flood stage is 6 feet.
The weather service reported minor flooding along the Long Prairie River and the river would continue to rise near 7 feet before cresting. At 7 feet First Avenue Southwest in Long Prairie would be flooded.
MATT ERICKSON may be reached at matt.erickson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5857.JODIE TWEED may be reached at jodie.tweed@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5858.