Stubborn Holdouts Surface In Grand Forks Retired Carpenter Spent Five Days In Second-Floor Laundry Room

Allen Tufte spent five days stranded in the second-floor laundry room of his apartment building. Finally, floodwaters receded enough for him to walk four blocks to a National Guard checkpoint. He hitched a ride Friday to an American Red Cross shelter from a startled state trooper.

“No. I wasn’t worried at all. I didn’t panic,” said Tufte, 65, during a Saturday interview. The retired carpenter, who is single, childless and lives alone, said he knew “the water had to go down sometime if I hung in there long enough.”

Tufte was the second unwilling flood hostage to surface Friday in Grand Forks. Police also rescued a mentally impaired man, 44, earlier that day.

The discoveries have prompted authorities to wonder how many people never evacuated from flood zones - and who they’ll find as they go back into the city.

“We did our very best to find everybody,” Owens said. “If we were to find somebody, and we may yet, it would be very devastating.”

With floodwaters quickly receding, authorities are opening up new neighborhoods to limited access by homeowners every day. Nearly 40 percent of Grand Forks’ residents have afternoon access to their homes, although a nearly citywide night curfew is still in effect.

So far, no deaths have been attributed to the flood in Grand Forks and neighboring East Grand Forks, Minn.

Tufte said he was well aware of the flood that engulfed the Red River Valley and forced evacuations of most of the 60,000 people who lived in the two cities. His first-floor apartment on South 25th Street rapidly took in three feet of water.

He said his 1981 Plymouth Horizon wouldn’t start. He called for police help to rescue him, but no one came. “I guess they forgot about me,” he said. He tried a second time, he said, but the phones went dead. He never tried again.

So Tufte gathered supplies of food and water, a pillow, a blanket, a radio and extra batteries. He went to the building’s second-floor laundry room. There, he lived for nearly a week in a building without tap water, power or heat.

“I had plenty to eat, but I was running out of water,” Tufte said. “There’s nothing to get excited about. I didn’t really need any help. I’ve been in worse situations. I’ve been caught in a blizzard before, but never a flood.”

Tufte slept on the laundy-room couch, often needing nothing more than his blue windbreaker for warmth. He bided his time listening to relaxing classical music and some country-music stations. He tuned into news of the flood, but “I got tired of it after awhile.”

When supplies ran low, Tufte stripped off his loafers, white socks and green workpants to wade into his apartment for more food and other belongings. Before the waters rose in his apartment, Tufte said, he had time to move most of his valuables above the water line. He’s only putting in a claim for his car and his bed with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

From second-floor hallway windows in his apartment building, the stranded Tufte said he watched the April 19 downtown fires and the waters rise. “It’s a disaster all right,” he thought. “The whole town is paralyzed.”

He also watched planes and helicopters battle the fires, as well as carry dignitaries - such as President Clinton and Elizabeth Dole - over the affected areas.

He said he would have left his building earlier, but he didn’t have waders. He also wondered whether it would be safe to stray far. The floodwaters were so cold that hypothermia could set in after three to five minutes of exposure. The tall, thin man is also frail from two strokes and a bad heart.

Besides, Tufte said, he wasn’t hungry or cold - just unshaven and thirsty by the time he left. He has a sister in Coon Rapids, but few other people to call and tell that he’s all right.

“I can’t remember my last girlfriend, it’s been so long ago,” Tufte said. “If I had money, they would come after me. But I don’t have money, so they don’t come after me too much. I like being single. You are your own boss. You can come and go. You don’t have to worry about nothing.”