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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Fargo residents asking for divine help

By: James MacPherson and Juliana Barbassa

Posted: 03/30/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

Charles Rex Arbogast / the associated press Sgt. First Class Todd Sudheimer with the Minnesota National Guard in St. Paul, Minn., looks out of his UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter at the Red River flooding south of Fargo, N.D., on Sunday. (CP)

FARGO, N.D. -- Weary residents of this sandbagged city came together in churches Sunday, counting their blessings that the Red River finally stopped rising and praying the levees would hold back its wrath. A brief levee break that swamped a school provided a warning of the kind of threat that still hangs over them in the days ahead.

Church services that are a staple of life on Sunday mornings in Fargo took on greater significance as people gathered after a week of round-the-clock sandbagging. They sang hymns and held hands, asking together for divine help in avoiding disaster.

"At a time like this, we need to call on God's providential assistance," said Rev. Bob Ona, pastor of Fargo's First Assembly of God church. "All of you have been heroic in your efforts. All of you have been pushed past the wall of weariness, exhaustion and numerous frustrations in order to do the right thing -- help people in the name of the Lord."

The Red River continued its slow retreat Sunday after cresting a day earlier. City officials have said they would breathe easier when the river falls to 12 metres or lower, expected by Saturday, meaning a lengthy test for sandbag levees that residents hastily constructed last week.

Fargo faces another test this week as a storm approaches with snow and powerful wind gusts that could send ferocious waves crashing into and over the already-stressed levees.

The sandbag effort resumed Sunday as helicopters began dropping 11 one-tonne sandbags into the river to deflect its violent current and keep it from eroding vulnerable areas of the dike system.

The aerial effort also included an unmanned Predator drone used to watch flood patterns and ice floes and provide high-definition information to teams on the ground. North Dakota has more than 2,400 National Guard troops engaged in the flood fight across the state.

The helicopter sandbag effort was focused on an area of the river that put another scare into the city during the night when it burst past a levee and submerged a Lutheran school campus.

-- The Associated Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 30, 2009 A7

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