Excerpt from the preface by Mike Maidenberg, publisher and Mike Jacobs, editor of the Grand Forks (ND) We found strength in a shared nightmare. Winter was the hardest in memory. And spring the cruelest. The blizzards began before Thanksgiving and ended after Easter with Blizzard Hannah, the meanest of all. A storm with the force of an Atlantic hurricane and the cold of an Arctic night. But the blizzards were only a prologue to the nightmare that overtook the Red River Valley. Hard on the heels of hard-hearted Hannah, the Red River of the North delivered its record flood. The twin cities of Grand Forks, ND and East Grand Forks, MN bore the brunt of both winter and water. Then came fire. Much of the historic heart of Grand Forks was burned away. It was an unprecedented catastrophe, and the Grand Forks Herald was there to cover it. The Herald has served the Red River Valley for more than a century. Its staff lived with the winter, reporting every day on conditions throughout the valley. When the flood came, we were joined by journalists who work for other newspapers that are owned by Knight-Ridder, Inc. When the fire struck, we continued to publish. For our cities, the Flood of 1997 has been a defining moment. Much has been lost. Nothing will be quite the same. While the water found its level in our homes and businesses, we found strength in ourselves. Her is the story of our community' s heroic fight against the elements and of eventual victory. This is a story that all of us in the region experienced. This is a story that strangers came to share. It is an inspiring story. This book is dedicated to those who lived through the winter and the flood, who fought the flood and the fire, who came to our cities to help and to those who will live in our rebuilt cities.