On the day of the Flood of 85 I was working in the engineering department of Modine Manufacturing in Buena Vista. The previous day and night it rained as I had never seen but one other time and that was during the Flood of 1969 from Hurricane Camille.
I was living in the city so I thought getting to work would be as easy as it always was. Upon leaving home I knew that something was up as I started to smell the distinct odor of flood water. I lived on 14th and Maple so it was a straight shot down the road to the plant entrance.
As I got closer to Magnolia Avenue, I realized that we had a problem. Water was in the parking lot and had overtaken the plant. I found out later that the night shift had worked diligently up until the water actually got too deep in the plant, working to elevate finished units, raw material and manufacturing equipment up as high as they could up on racks all over the plant. These unselfish acts really did save the company lots of money, and provided a way for the production to resume after cleanup. A lot of the flood damaged parts and materials (water and mud) were sent to Verona to be cleaned. They actually began to do some light assembly up there too.
Now for an explanation of my attached photo. As I said before, the ride to work was short. A straight shot. When I got closer to Magnolia I realized I need a better plan. I had recently just bought the canoe and had given it a couple pretty good tests on the Maury River, now raging in my town.
I decided to return to my house and get my canoe. Once in the water you immediately knew the water being funneled toward those buildings was pretty strong. I donned my life jacket and pushed off.
I had decided that the best way to enter the plant was through the main gate, around the guard shack and if open, up and in the employee entrance doors. The danger with that was that the water was coming around the guard shack so fast that I knew I only had one chance to catch the roof or I would be on a wild ride around the end of the plant and out on the train tracks to be at the mercy of the swollen Maury River.
Once inside it was so eerie and depressing to see everyone’s desks floating around and their work floating and getting ruined.
I found my own desk still located in the large room on the front facing Magnolia. I then had the special pleasure of being the only plant employee to punch in to work that day. We had a time punch clock located on the wall beside Chuck Foshay’s office. Just lucky the clock was above water. Only a few of our time cards were above the flood line. I was able to retrieve my and actually punch in for work on that truly devastating day.
Even though we lost our place of employment for a while, some lost cars, some equipment got damaged and lives were disrupted, people pulled together and showed kindness. “Me” became “us.” We pulled together. I pray now that we don’t get another flood, or storm, or fire, or attack but I do pray that another wave of unity will fall on our city, our county, and our country. We are divided in so many nonsensical ways it’s almost comical. When the day comes to honor the ‘85 flood let’s use that as a day for total and complete unity. Barry Whitten Glasgow
