Storms hit the Peace Garden

Another night of severe weather has left many places along the US-Canadian border overflowing wit...  More »

Another night of severe weather has left many places along the US-Canadian border overflowing with water. Rain reports of several inches came in by this morning after the latest round of storms. Karna Lillebo reports on what the big rains did at the International Peace Garden. Last night's storm dropped just over three inches of rain in an hour's time and half inch to three-quarter inch hail beat down flowers for 20 minutes straight at the International Peace Garden. For CEO Doug Hevenor that meant a night of no sleep and will mean long days of hard work to clean up the destruction left behind. (Doug Hevenor - CEO, International Peace Garden) At 11:00 at night, I was in the office, and it was dry. And by 1:00 it had 12 inches of water in it. The foundation is caving in on the administration building and the basement housing archival records is flooded. Flooding also caused damage to the gift shop. (Doug Hevenor - CEO, International Peace Garden) This is the water level that we were at, right here. So, what's happened is that water just eased and wicked and wicked and wicked until it made its way into the store, and it's right through the whole retail store. And one of the fountains looks more like a lake. (Doug Hevenor - CEO, International Peace Garden) There's a 30-foot bed, and then there's a turf bed, and then there's a circular pond with a fountain in it. But it's more than just standing water. Flower beds have lost four to six inches of top soil, which has be re-deposited in unwanted places. (Doug Hevenor - CEO, International Peace Garden) Like where they're shoveling, right now, is about a six-foot wide bed of grass that has 10-12 feet of soil on it. The Peace Garden is known for it's beautiful flowers, but many of them sustained considerable damage from both the rain and the hail. (Doug Hevenor - CEO, International Peace Garden) What a potentially normal leaf would look like versus the shredded leaf, and yet this leaf has sustained substantial damage, as well. July 14th is the 75th anniversary for the International Peace Garden. Hevenor hopes to have Mother Nature's mess cleaned in time for the celebration. At the international border, Karna Lillebo, KX News. The International Peace Garden could use your help during the clean-up and restoration process. If you have any good top soil you can donate to help repair the flower beds, or if you can volunteer your time to help with the clean-up, call the toll free number on your screen. That's 1-888-432-6733.  « Less