Robert Reischl

Written Memory

February 29, 2012

I saw the aftermath of the Rapid City flood through the eyes of a 12-year old boy who had won a contest selling newspaper subscriptions to the Mitchell Daily Republic. The grand prize was an all-expenses paid trip to the Black Hills and to stay at a cabin down near Custer SD. We had to pass through RC 2 days after the flood and the first thing I remember was seeing paved roads turned into dusty dirt roads. There was a dire sense of emergency everywhere as National Guard trucks roared around like a war was on.

The trees along Rapid Creek had acted like the strands of a net and filtered out pieces of debris. Everywhere stories abounded of bodies being found downstream and to a 12-year old boy it was going through a cemetery with a lot of funerals going on at the same time. It was the first time I remember feeling like I wanted to cry for no reason except sheer sadness.