ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, April 25, 1997 TAG: 9704250056
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: COURTNEY MILLER THE ROANOKE TIMES
The University of North Dakota student thought he'd be gone just two days; Mother Nature disagreed.
When Chad Bowden flew from North Dakota to California for his grandfather's funeral April 17, he had three changes of clothing and expected to return two days later, on Saturday.
The Red River changed his plans.
Bowden, 20, a Roanoke native, is a senior at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, on schedule to graduate in December. He and several of his Phi Kappa Alpha fraternity brothers had been filling sandbags for weeks in preparation for the coming flood. The task was only partially complete when the unexpected death of his grandfather stopped Bowden's volunteer work.
"When I left, there was 3 or 4 inches of water on the streets, mostly sewage spillover," he said. "My friends told me it was to the front steps of the house when they left."
The university canceled classes April16 and urged its 12,000 students to help fill the 2million sandbags the city needed. As the river rose, classes were canceled through the weekend. But by late Friday, the river had risen enough that most of the volunteers gave up sandbagging and joined the evacuation.
Last Saturday, when Bowden was scheduled to return to school from California, the Grand Forks airport closed and the university canceled classes for the rest of the semester.
"It was on the radio," he said. "No finals, classes were over for the year. I was supposed to take three finals and turn in two papers."
Instead of returning to school, the displaced student changed his plane ticket and came home to Roanoke with his parents.
"It all took me by surprise," he said. "It just kept coming, one thing after another."
Bowden said he feels as if he's in limbo. He's worried about his summer job at the Coca-Cola bottling plant on the west end of Grand Forks, which has been protected from the flood by an emergency dike. He's worried about his 1985 Honda Accord, which he left parked in several inches of overflowed sewage. It could now be in more than a foot of foul water. He knows the laundry he left in the basement of the fraternity house is gone, but he hopes that the stuff in his third-floor bedroom is dry.
There also is a rumor that the computer system was damaged and several financial aid files were lost. Bowden doesn't know what forms he might need to fill out when he returns in the fall.
"Mostly, I just want to go back and see what kind of damage there is," he said. "I guess then I can figure out what I want to do."
Bowden, his fraternity's treasurer, hopes he and several other members can return soon to clean the house and check to see if anything has been looted.
City officials have said residents won't be allowed back until the river drops several feet and water and sewer services are restored.
Some of Bowden's friends are waiting the flood out in Minot, N.D. His girlfriend, Amy Luber, a junior from Fargo, is filling sandbags there. She told Bowden that the flooding wasn't as bad in Fargo, but local college students are jealous because University of North Dakota students' last three weeks of classes are canceled.
Bowden said he became interested in attending the University of North Dakota when an adviser at William Fleming High School suggested it.
"I was always interested in aviation," he said, "and it is one of the largest and best aviation schools in the country."
He didn't know he'd be there for a flood as mighty as any considered likely in 500 years.
"My dad visited for Easter," Bowden said. "The snow had just begun to melt, and I thought it might be a nice spring."
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: JANEL RHODA THE ROANOKE TIMES. Chad Bowden is home fromby CNBcollege a few weeks sooner than expected. color.