A few weeks ago, offensive lineman Dustin Adams made an oral agreement to accept a 2012 football scholarship from the University of Hawaii.
Now Adams and his family face an uncertain future after they were forced to evacuate their North Dakota home because of an impending flood.
"We grabbed everything we could," Adams said. "Everything is out of the house except for some furniture we don’t need anymore. That’s about it."
About 11,000 of Minot’s 40,000 residents were ordered to evacuate as swollen headwaters in Canada are causing overflowing of the Souris River, which runs adjacent to the North Dakota city.
The Souris is predicted to rise to 10 feet higher than the normal level this Sunday. Adams said the current river level is "a couple of inches from the top of the dikes. It’s going to start breaching, and the flooding will begin."
Adams said dirt and clay from his high school’s practice field are being used to build a secondary dike. He said Broadway, Minot’s main street, is now closed.
"They’re building the secondary dike to try to save some houses and the city’s infrastructure," Adams said.
He said the house where his family has lived the past 10 years is near the river.
"We’re going to have to see what (the house) looks like after the flood," he said. "We have to see if we still have a house. If not, we don’t know what we’re going to do."
Adams said his family — mother, stepfather and younger brother — began packing Monday. The city moved the evacuation deadline up a day, to this past Wednesday.
"We wouldn’t have gotten our stuff out if we didn’t start early," Adams said.
Because the hotels were filled with oil workers, the family moved into the home of Adams’ girlfriend.
Adams said he remains "fully committed" to joining the Warriors in July 2012. He will sign his letter of intent in February.
He also has a new perspective.
"It makes you think the next time you pass a homeless person on the street," he said. "No one ever realizes how fast it can happen to them, or the circumstances, or anything like that. It definitely puts things into perspective."
