Thousands placing sandbags to protect Fargo-Moorhead homes

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This article was published 25/03/2009 (6037 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

FARGO, N.D. — City officials here are encouraging another massive volunteer effort today from area residents to get sandbag dikes finished in backyards threatened by rising water in drains and creeks.

Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker says the window of opportunity to build strong dikes is small, but doable.

"(Today’s) our big push," Walaker said, adding he wants all areas of the city protected to a flood stage of 42 feet (12.8 metres) by the end of the day.

"We’ve made a tremendous amount of progress on the south side of Fargo. We need one more day," Walaker said. "We need to go another 24 hours" of delivering and making sandbags, he said.

President Barack Obama has declared North Dakota a federal disaster area because of statewide flooding.

North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven says the move means the federal government will pay 75 percent of state and local government costs for the flood fight.

Construction of dikes and levees in most of the vulnerable areas of Fargo was 70 percent or more finished Tuesday night, city figures indicated. But some spots still need to be addressed today.

If sandbagging takes too long, overnight temperatures in the teens through the weekend could "create havoc" in placing sandbags, Walaker said. If there is a positive with the cold, it will slow the flow of the spring melt, and the rise of the river, he said.

City engineers expected to inspect all dikes overnight to see where they needed to be bolstered. Sandbagging continued throughout the night.

Walaker said a contingency plan in case of dike failures will be released Thursday, as will an emergency evacuation plan. He did not elaborate on those plans.

The river at Fargo surpassed major flood stage of 30 feet (9.1 m) at about 8 a.m. Tuesday and had risen to 32.34 feet by 8:30 p.m. The National Weather Service maintained its prediction that the Red River will crest at 39 to 41 feet by Friday. The service’s Web site shows the river hitting 40 feet early Saturday.

Thousands of college, high school and middle school students responded to desperate pleas for volunteers Tuesday in Fargo and Moorhead. They passed sandbags so quickly in spots in Fargo and Moorhead that at times they outstripped the ability of officials to get finished bags or bags and sand to them, Walaker said.

"The kids did fantastic," Walaker.

"I never saw any fear out there. All I saw was enthusiasm," he said.

North Dakota State University President Joseph Chapman said there won’t be school today or Thursday so students and staff can continue to volunteer in the flood fight.

Fargo middle and high school students will also be allowed to continue sandbagging, said Dan Huffman, assistant superintendent for business services. Huffman said more than 2,100 students volunteered Tuesday.

About 700 to 800 students from Hatton and Grand Forks, N.D., also volunteered to sandbag Tuesday.

In addition, about 800 North Dakota Army and Air National Guard members were taking part in the flood fight on the Fargo side of the Red River, and hundreds more were working on the Minnesota side.

So far, Fargo volunteers have made 1.3 million of the two million sandbags the city needs, said city Enterprise Director Bruce Grubb. He said sandbag-making at the Fargodome and the city’s garbage facility will continue 24 hours a day until the goal is met.

West Acres Mall in Fargo announced it wouldn’t open today.

Meanwhile, more than 1,000 people were evacuated from an area near Bismarck on Tuesday night as the Missouri River flooded, Rick Robinson of the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services said Wednesday morning.

– Fargo Forum

– with files from Associated Press