Managing Stress After a Disaster
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| Anne Kelly |
| 5/13/2009 |
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| Replacing damaged drywall is a lot easier than restoring someone`s emotional well-being. It`s been seven weeks since Anna Marie Backhaus`s home of more than 30 years became a casualty of this springs floods. Her home was among 58 destroyed in Linton by rising water. She and her husband among the 75 families displaced. "This is the rec room, this is where we had this great big pool table that flipped," she says. "It`s very depressing, sometimes I think it`s going to get better when I come down here, but it doesn`t. It`s still hard." Hard to grasp that the home where she raised her three children is now ruined. Their baby books, and countless other memories gone. Anna Marie`s husband hasn`t even stepped foot back in the house since they evacuated, because it`s too much for him to handle. It`s this emotion that`s caused immense stress for both Anna Marie and her husband. They`re losing sleep. And just last week, Anna Marie checked herself into the hospital for a stomach related problem, that turned out to be stressed induced. Kristen Vetter of the Emmons County Extension Office says the tone of the town has changed since the floods hit. Vetter says both flood victims and volunteers are emotionally drained and stressed out. "It`s almost not a big enough word," Vetter says. "They`re stressed to the max. No human being has the capacity to understand it and so then that boils over and that creates this feeling of not being in control." Anna Marie says all the paperwork for flood insurance is adding to her stress and anxiety, and there are life-changing decisions that need to be made soon. "You know, what do we do with the house? We can`t hardly redo it, and then where are we going to go?," she says. She and her husband are considering relocating to Bismarck to be closer to family. For now they`re living in a one bedroom apartment, taking life day by day, and trying to stay positive. Because Linton and the rest of Emmons County is still recovering from the flood, there`s a flood relief fund to help families. To submit funds for Linton`s unmet needs for rebuilding a fundraising effort has been started to contribute you can send a check to: Emmons County Flood Relief BNC National Bank-Linton Branch P.O. Box 910 Linton, ND 58552 Checks payable to: Emmons County Flood Relief |
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