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      MINOT, N.D. (AP) — Employers in flood-stricken Minot are
developing a tolerance for tardy workers.


      Gigantic traffic backups on both sides of the only open bridge
across the raging Souris River have made many people late for work
- hours late in some cases. But bosses are grateful their helpers
are showing up at all, particularly those dealing with the misery
of losing their homes.


      "I'm trying to think outside the box - changing shifts, doing
what I can to accommodate travel times so it doesn't get any
crazier for our staff," said Jennifer Ahmann, manager of the
American Eagle Outfitters shop.


      Innovation is proving the key to survival for many companies in
the Minot area as they cope with transportation snarls, possible
water contamination and other obstacles from the flood that swamped
4,000 houses and hundreds of businesses.


      From restaurants serving meals with paper plates and plastic
utensils because they can't wash dishes to a grocery chain and tire
wholesaler shifting inventory to new locations, they are doing
what's necessary to keep their doors open. The owners of a golf
course even altered the layout so people could keep playing.


      "I don't want to lose my accounts to competitors. I have to
stay in business," said Monique Jensen, manager of Tires Only, who
scrambled to move about 20,000 tires to higher ground before her
warehouse in a low-lying area was evacuated. Jensen sells to a
network of retailers stretching from Minnesota to Montana and said
any lengthy interruption of shipments would be costly.


      The rain-swollen Souris peaked over the weekend at its highest
level on record. By Monday, it was more than half a foot lower and
moving steadily downward, but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said
it would be mid-July before they would consider the danger over.
Corps officials said they were "guardedly optimistic" there would
be no further damage but warned rain could change the outlook.


      No official damage estimate has been released, but the cost will
be high. Some businesses will feel the pain for years, said David
Flynn, director of the University of North Dakota's Bureau of
Business and Economic Research, who studied how Grand Forks'
catastrophic 1997 flood affected commerce. Some companies got
through the initial disaster but never fully recovered and
eventually failed, he said.


      "What they suffered was the death of a thousand cuts because
their key demographic and key customer base moved away," Flynn
said. "They had to struggle and struggle and try to get clients
and new customers in to take the place of the old in order to keep
the business growing."


      Minot may fare better than other flood-stricken cities because
work in the oil industry and related businesses should keep many
people from moving away, he said. Still, companies that try to
reopen after being closed for lengthy periods may have trouble
luring people back.


      "Do people get used to shopping somewhere else?" Flynn said.
"Or do they move to a different part of town and there's another
store that's closer than the one they shopped at in the past?"


      The flood hasn't hurt Minot's hotels, which are packed with
National Guard troops, government officials and other visitors, and
big-box stores on the outskirts of town haven't missed a beat,
selling bottled water and nonperishable foods by the cartload.


      But staying afloat has required ingenuity from others -
particularly in the flood zone, with its hairdressers, insurance
agencies, bars and other small retail and service outlets.


      Stuart Collom and Ken Malsom, building contractors who pour
cement in basements and driveways, say the phone has stopped
ringing since the river overflowed. So they've been surfing the Web
for good deals on industrial-strength power washing machines,
figuring plenty of homeowners and companies will need their
services when the water recedes and a massive cleanup gets under
way.


      "It might be a way to make a living for a while. We'll see,"
said Collom, who has been sleeping on a couch in the office since
his house flooded. "I think construction is coming to a grinding
halt around here. A lot of the jobs we'd started are sitting under
water."


      Jensen figures the water is 3 to 4 feet deep in her warehouse,
where about 25,000 tires were stored last week. She frantically
lined up seven semi-trailers to move her inventory when it became
apparent she'd have to evacuate, and she thinks all but about 5,000
were saved before the sirens blared Wednesday afternoon. Within a
few days, she expects to have a system in place to resume filling
orders.


      Marketplace Foods has four grocery outlets in Minot, three on
the south side of town. With the one on the north side awash in
several feet of water, regional manager Ralph Towery has been
scouting for a place to set up shop temporarily. He expects to lose
money on the venture but hopes the company will reap good will from
customers who won't have to travel jammed roads to the south side
for supplies.


      "People have lost their cars, lost everything, and we want to
help meet their needs so they can get through this," Towery said.


      Homestead Restaurant owner Dean Aberle never considered closing
Saurday when authorities issued an order to boil drinking water
because of contamination from the sewage treatment plant. Unable to
serve tap water or run the restaurant's dishwasher, his staff
served bottled water and meals on paper plates, with plastic
utensils.


      "It's a weird thing to go through," Aberle said. "But you do
what you have to."


      Associated Press writers Dave Kolpack in Fargo, N.D., and Doug
Glass in Minneapolis contributed to this report.
      
      

Gallery

As water ebbs in Minot, thoughts of recovery

N.D. flooding forces some Minn. companies to relocate

River hits record flood level in Minot

Minot prepares for devastation

More evacuations in Minot as flood outlook worsens

Disasters

Innovation is proving the key to survival for many companies in
the Minot area as they cope with transportation snarls, possible
water contamination and other obstacles from the flood that swamped
4,000 houses and hundreds of businesses.

Minot businesses use creativity to survive flood

Go Deeper.

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