‘Been fighting floods out here for 30 years now. I’ve never seen one like this.’: Farmers are still battling the Sheyenne River’s waters
Along with the wait to farm, the water has given the Tronnes family a personal struggle.
HORACE, N.D. (Valley News Live) - The weather is drying up, but farmers across the Valley are still struggling with flood waters. For some, the end may not be near.
“Been fighting floods out here for 30 years now. I’ve never seen one like this,” says Horace farmer Oscar Tronnes.
It’s been a long spring for Oscar Tronnes and his family, and since we last spoke with him, nothing much has changed.
Farmers in the area are still dealing with the flood waters from the Sheyenne
“Every river is down except for the Sheyenne. Everyone else is having a good time, and we’re still flooding. It’s crazy,” says Tronnes.
Tronnes says he doesn’t even know where most of this debris came from, including large tree trunks.
“The wind has really brought down a lot of these stocks. We didn’t have any of this corn close to us. All this stuff came from miles away,” he says.
He says the waters are about five feet deep in some areas, and the road is still dangerous if not impossible at times to cross.
“It actually slowed down, but you can see where the ripples are that the road is half gone. We’re talking a lot of gravel to even start being able to use our road again,” says Tronnes.
He says the road is usually bustling with farm equipment, but now he doesn’t know when that will happen again.
Along with the wait to farm, the water has given the family a personal struggle.
“Usually Memorial Day weekend we’ll have a little get together. No, not gonna happen. It’s been hard on everyone,” he says.
Tronnes’s mother-in-law remains landlocked because of the waters.
“You got to throw her in the bucket, she’s 81 years old god bless her soul,”
They don’t want to test the road any more than it already has. So, they only go across if they absolutely have to-- leaving her family waving from far away.
“We get her out every once and awhile, but that tractor is still our only way in and out,” he says.
Tronnes says for now, all they can do is wait. But if the weather stays like it is today, they’ll be able to take the sandbags out soon.
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