DEVILS LAKE, N.D. – A shrill wind tugs at the surface of Devils Lake, stirring up legions of white caps.
The churning lake appears ominous as it pounds against roads fortified with sloping shoulders of rock.
At a deserted farmyard, waves batter a split-level home. Murky waters have already flooded the basement and may one day swallow the house.
Abandoned cars, anchored by the weight of their engines, shift uneasily under the onslaught of waves.
A couple of kilometres west, Minnewaukan farmer Jim Yri wonders whether he will have to move his home to higher ground next year. Most of his pasture is gone, and he now keeps only a dozen cows.
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The lake is about a hundred paces from the Yri home. Six years ago, Devils Lake was no more than a faint glimmer on the horizon.
“It’s mind boggling the amount of water that’s come in here in the last six years,” Yri said.
The lake began its invasion of homes and farmland in 1993, rising with a recent wet cycle and the fact there is no natural outlet to drain the water. Since then, it has risen eight metres, quadrupled in size, and submerged 70,000 acres of deeded farmland. More than 450 buildings, including homes, have been abandoned or moved.
State officials peg the damage at more than $300 million. (U.S.) But as the lake rises, so do the costs.
Near the city of Devils Lake, trucks, bulldozers and scrapers work to heighten a dike. The dike, which doubles as a highway, towers above a cluster of nearby homes. The residents there are lucky – the dike spares them the hardship of having to abandon or move their dwellings.
Not everyone shares the good fortune.
At a neighborhood farther west, cement foundations offer a stark reminder of homes that were raised and moved earlier this year. Government officials ordered homeowners to leave before the lake stormed onto their properties. Federal compensation was paid.
Across the street, and on slightly higher ground, Justin Haugen wonders if he and his family may also be forced to flee one day.
“We’ve thought about it,” he said. “Hopefully, we won’t have to.”
West of the city, Anthony Beller tills the remnants of a field slowly being engulfed by the lake. He moved to the area last year, settling into a hamlet known as Churchs Ferry. Beller considered the “sleepy, little community” an ideal place to raise his 12-year-old daughter.
That may soon change.
There’s talk that the 113 residents of Churchs Ferry will have to move next year.
Beller figures his home, built before the turn of the century, is too old to be raised and carted elsewhere. The former New Yorker is not sure where he will go.
“I guess most of the people of Churchs Ferry are holding their breath on what’s going to happen.”
Hard luck stories abound along the shores of Devils Lake. Many farmers have lost hay and pasture land, forcing them to sell their cattle herds. Grain land is being lost as well.
Rose Kostecki shares in the hardships.
Now 65 years old, she once held dreams of a comfortable retirement. She and her husband owned a campground and a shed where they could sell fish bait to the anglers that visit Devils Lake. They also planned to subdivide part of their farm into lakefront lots.
Those dreams were washed away by the rising waters of Devils Lake. The bait hut, the campground and about 250 acres of land are submerged under the white-capped waters.
Kostecki doubts she will see the lake retreat to its earlier levels during her lifetime. Seated at her kitchen table, she wrings her hands and holds back tears while she contemplates all that has been lost.
“It would have done us well, but now everything kind of turned around,” she said. “It’s a no-win situation.”
