Residents in Oslo, MN have had to depend on airboats like this to deliver mail and necessities since the flooding on the Red River made the town an island.

In Oslo, MN, a town with less than 400 residents, this year’s flooding has become more than a topic for discussion – residents have been living on an island.

“We start talking floods in January. It’s been on everyone’s minds,” said Oslo Councilmember Scott Cosmatka.

Oslo expects regular, modest flooding evry winter as snow melts and fresh water rushes the Red River. Despite preparation, residents did not expect this magnitude of the flooding this year.

“We’re an island,” Oslo resident Melanie Carpenter said.

“We’re used to flooding. That’s no surprise. But it’s been much more than expected.”

Carpenter tutors students from kindergarten up to high school in math at Oslo’s American Legion clubhouse.

“We get instructions and assignments from teachers at Warren-Alvarado-Oslo schools in Warren and teach the material here,” Carpenter explained.

Oslo’s “school away from school” started March 30.

“We’ll stay open until the school buses can drive on the highway again,” Carpenter said.

“I hope that’s sooner than later.”

Kitty Stromberg is Oslo’s newest resident, and the new owner of the town’s café.

“It’s just water for as far as the eye can see,” Stromberg said.

She has been busy serving breakfast, lunch and dinner to 18 soldiers from Minnesota’s National Guard.

“They eat in-between patrols down the dike,” Stromberg said.

The National Guard shares shifts walking down Oslo’s four-mile dike with volunteers from the American Legion.

“Takes about an hour and a half to walk the whole thing. But everyone who is able to tries to help out,” Carpenter said.

“People are always asking me what food they can bring me for the café,” Stromberg added.

Most supplies are shipped in by the town’s only airboat, owned by the Oslo Volunteer Fire Department.

“We’ve been delivering mail, moving groceries, even handing out Easter baskets,” Chief Rod Cote said. “Oslo is a very self-reliant place when it needs to be.”

Earlier this year, Oslo ordered thousands of pounds of sand for in-town distribution.

In the past few weeks, residents have filled more than 8,000 sandbags to top off dikes and protect farmland throughout Marshall County.

That local mountain of sand has turned into a few scattered, small piles. Yet more water is expected to come.

“Now, we’re kind of at a standstill,” Cosmatka said.

“Everyone is just hunkering down and preparing for what comes next,” Stromberg added.

“It’s turned into a waiting game.”

Oslo’s western road opened Monday. Large trucks are now free to inch across the slick, watery asphalt. But with the next crest, Oslo is expected to become an island once more.

Related Links:

• Oslo tell their stories in this DNN Radio podcast.