During the 1997 flood, Marlene Dvorak kept a journal to document her every move.
She documented two months of her life from the moments just before the floodwaters broke through the dikes in Grand Forks, through her time away from home, and then, her return.
"Never in our wildest dreams would the water get so high as to damage our home," she wrote the day before the flood.
But the water did get into her home's basement in the Riverside Park area. She could tell from the outside when she returned home some weeks later. Her biggest worry was main-floor water.
So, the first thing Dvorak did when she returned home was bend down to touch the carpet.
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"I felt it was dry, and I was so thankful," she said.
Before evacuating, Dvorak had moved her valuables from the basement to the highest level. Though she did lose some things, she said it wasn't anything she misses anymore.
"I guess it was time to get new stuff," she said.
Dvorak's journal recorded just about everything, including her inner thoughts as she and her family evacuated.
"I don't know what made me keep this journal, but I did, and I'm so glad I did," she said.
- Wade Rupard
