Wadena mayor reflects on the aftermath
WADENA - You never know how you'll really respond in an emergency until you are in one.
For Wadena, life will no doubt be divided into the era before and after the June 17 tornado. After all, life went from planning for an all-school reunion parade on a summer day to planning for two years without use of the high school.
Wadena Mayor Wayne Wolden stood before one of the homes, which is across from the Wadena-Deer Creek High School, that was left unihabitable by the June 17 tornado. Wolden said as the days go by he ends up wondering if he's done enough.
Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
For Mayor Wayne Wolden, it was also a singular event. Regular sleep and activity ended more than two weeks ago and only parts of it are returning.
His daily drive down Irving Avenue is a constant reminder of a decimated tree line, flattened houses and homes reduced to curbside debris piles.
Wolden has been mayor for nearly 12 years and served on the city council before that.
"My sense is that I am expected to not tire out, not let down, continue to be the guy to keep us on that path and I hope that I have done that to people's expectations," Wolden said.
In the days after the tornado, Wolden patiently answered repetitive questions from Federal Emergency Management Agency officials and fielded endless news media inquiries. His phone - with its bluegrass ring tone - was going off every few seconds. He kept up with people via Facebook. He's tried to be everywhere at once.
"I'm the kind of guy who can't pass a block if somebody is outside and there is something going on," Wolden said. He had to stop to ask them if everything was OK. "During this whole time I think I've worn out the brakes on all my vehicles, including my motorcycle."
Only recently he left his laptop computer at work. The desktop image is a cardboard sign thanking people who came to help with the tornado. More than 3,000 volunteers came to the city's aid.
And he took time to go to family ball games. On the recent citywide day of rest, he went for a 100-mile motorcycle ride with one of his sons. There were no questions to answer or issues to solve. There was only the Yamaha, the wind and the road.
"That's the release," he said. "No one asked me about the tornado."
The night the tornado struck, Wolden was at home with his 17-year-old daughter Christina. They sat in the basement watching the radar on a laptop computer in their 100-year-old Victorian farm house at the end of Irving Avenue. As the storm grew ever more serious they moved to more protected corner of the basement. They could hear the tornado approaching.
"We could hear it like it was right outside," Wolden said, leaning forward in his chair. "The vibration - like 10 trains going by. I said, 'Christina it's here.' We just held on to each other."
They heard the movement of debris. Then it was quiet. The sun was shining.
"I knew it was a tornado," he said and he knew he had to get to the courthouse.
He got about 45 minutes of sleep that first night. After that it ranged between four and about six. Sleep was often interrupted as his mind was busy with problems to solve.
When he first saw the damage just outside his own immediate neighborhood, Wolden said he was astounded, dumbfounded and amazed.
"I just can't describe it," he said.
In the tornado's aftermath, Wolden spent time searching for his wife, Lori, who has a downtown Wadena business. She was unharmed.
Besides Christina, the couple has two sons - Tyler, 23, who works in Alexandria, and Justin, 21, who is an M State student.
At 47, Wolden is described by others in city hall as one who has retained his boyish look. He grew up as a farm kid in the Gonvic area and went on to school at the Area Vocational Technical Institute in Wadena.
So what has he learned about the city since June 17?
"We've got some strong people willing to help each other," Wolden said. It isn't a wealthy community and people live with what they have, but Wolden said those who have little there are willing to help someone off who is in worse shape.
"Wadena has done so much for me," Wolden said. "I've always been so proud to represent Wadena. It's a great town."
His daughter is set to graduate from Wadena-Deer Creek High School next year. They plan to have lunch together once a week now that she'll be taking her classes in the college where he works.
Wolden said as people's lives are no longer laying out on their front lawns they are starting to recover.
This week as a sign of a return to some sort of normalcy, people were lined up outside the Cozy Theatre in Wadena's art deco downtown for the early show.
Blocks away in southwest Wadena, an older man was out mowing his lawn in the afternoon heat as workers repaired the shingles on the home. A corner house had lawn sprinklers going a home next door was being demolished and more were reduced to foundations.
Back at city hall, Wolden was moved by the kindness of strangers. A man from Bertha created a nameplate for him out of reclaimed wood. Wolden plans to place it on his desk at Minnesota State Community and Technical College where he is the business manager.
He's been at M State for 17 years this week. Before that he worked his way up from a cook at Hardee's to opening 10 restaurants for the chain. And his life experience, including managing the chaos of those restaurant openings, came into play on June 17.
Wolden's view of a mayor's role is as manager and to stay as calm as possible. It's a challenge he enjoys.
One of the first things the city implemented after the disaster was a daily community meeting to keep residents informed and a single sheet publication called Wadena Today.
Each night city staff met with other county and state and emergency representatives and debriefed on the days concerns. The tone of the first meeting was they were here to answer questions and Wolden said the process had them working as a team to come up with good decisions.
One of those appears to have started about 3:30 p.m. June 17 when city officials made the call to cancel the 7 p.m. all-school reunion parade as stormy weather approached.
"Thank God," Wolden said. "Because that would have been disaster. There would have been deaths."
The last two weeks have been a blur. Wolden said he's cherished family time amid the 18 to 20 hour workdays. But he is always left with the feeling there was something more he could do.
"You never felt you had done enough."
RENEE RICHARDSON may be reached at renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5852.