North Dakotans brace for flooding

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This article was published 24/03/2009 (6383 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

FARGO, N.D. — Students, soldiers, neighbours and other volunteers slogged through the rain en masse on Monday, racing to reinforce dikes and fill sandbags while the area braced for more moisture today and Wednesday.

As the National Weather Service stuck to its prediction the Red River will crest at 39 to 41 feet in Fargo-Moorhead on Friday, the mounting stress of a potential record flood began to take its toll.

“Fear is setting in,” said Salvation Army Capt. Adam Moore. “We’re seeing that on the streets.”

Weather service officials warned a storm system moving into the Red River Valley from Nebraska overnight could drop up to 25 mm of rain over a widespread area today before the rain turns to snow on Wednesday.

Despite sporadic showers on Monday, Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker said the city “had a good day.

“We need a really good day tomorrow,” he said.

Fargo tried to speed up the dike-building process by deploying a portable wall system that’s used to protect soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan from bullets and grenades.

Sharon Mueller watched from near her home as a payloader filled a wall of the Hesco containers with sand. Under the road, large ice chunks floated down the swollen Drain 27.

Mueller, a retired bartender, said she couldn’t believe how fast the rising water was running.

She said that, despite her husband’s complacency, she was worried about flooding.

“Can you imagine what Noah must have felt like?” she said.

Sandbagging hit high gear as high schools let out students and colleges cancelled classes to aid the effort.

North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven said students would be forgiven for missed school days. About 30 Concordia College students stacked sandbags around Barb Groth’s house in Oakport Township north of Moorhead, where several hundred volunteers pitched in.

Groth, whose home flooded in 1997 when the Red River crested at 39.57 feet, said she didn’t think a repeat was possible.

“I never thought it could happen again. We’re nervous,” she said.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty stopped in Oakport and Moorhead, urging state residents to join the flood fight. About 230 Minnesota National Guard troops were helping with flood efforts, and he said he expects that number will eventually reach about 400.

Hoeven said the state’s National Guard committed 500 soldiers to the water war, with more available.

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The Point Bridge connecting Grand Forks and East Grand Forks on Minnesota Avenue will close this morning, according to a Grand Forks official. Public information officer Kevin Dean said the bridge is normally closed when the river reaches about 45 feet. That is expected to happen by Thursday.

But the cities decided to close it a bit early, Dean said, because officials expect water levels to come up very quickly.

The other bridges spanning the Red River in Grand Forks are also facing closures in the next week.

If all three bridges between Grand Forks and East Grand Forks are closed, the nearest open crossing may be more than 70 miles away in Pembina, N.D.

— The Fargo Forum, with file from the Grand Forks Herald