Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Flood Update

As many of you may now be hearing, Fargo and surrounding areas are preparing for the flood of the century. It is expected to be worse than the historic 1997 flooding when the river crested at 39 ft. Officials expect this time around the river to crest at (as of today) 41 feet on Friday.

The community is outstanding--volunteers have been working around the clock to fill sandbags and build sandbag dikes since Sunday. Steve and I are exhausted. We trade shifts (Steve goes, I watch the kids--I go, he watches the kids). I'm dreaming sandbags and waking up in the middle of the night to make sure we don't have flooding in our basement. So far, so good.

Yesterday the city was confident that 95% of the city has been diked and bagged. This morning though, we woke up to snow--lots of snow. The forecast predicted 1-3 inches, now they're saying 4-8 inches. The city now wants us to build our dikes up to 43 ft. We had a day off, but now we're asked to work around the clock again to fill and bag.

The city is VERY organized. National Guard is here, Red Cross, etc, and the city buses are shuttling people to the Fargodome and the city solid waste facility known as "Sandbag Central." They have machines at "Sandbag Central," volunteers have to fill by shovel at the Fargodome. Everyone here is calm, but very serious and determined. Everyone is focused to get the job done.

The universities in the area are shut down, and are asking students to volunteer. High school students are also getting out of school to volunteer. It's a massive community effort.

Yesterday we helped dike Steve's boss' house. Whitney watched us outside while Joshua was in school. Today, I've packed up all our pictures in 2 boxes, got our documents in the emergency backpack, and the med kit ready to throw in the car if we need to. So far we should be fine, but if we get ice jams in the river like Bismarck, or if one of the dikes fails (like it did in southwest Fargo) then we need to be ready.

The city has asked us not to go around, "site-seeing" and taking pictures. If you want to see pictures, check any news site. It is really amazing to see. People lined up around houses. Clay dikes in the middle of streets. Sandbag dikes that look like snow drifts.

Please keep Fargo and its surrounding communities in your thoughts and prayers. This is a really wonderful community, and everyone has worked so hard to protect it.

I'll keep you posted

9 Comments:

At 3:03 PM, Blogger esherman10 said...

Good luck! It sounds like everyone is so prepared, though. That's great to have the community working together like that.

 
At 3:14 PM, Blogger Deb said...

I saw this on the news and was going to e-mail you to see how you were, thanks for the update. We will pray for you.

 
At 4:01 PM, Blogger Kelly said...

I've been praying for you guys and wondering how you're doing. I know you've probably already thought of this, but if you can, photograph your house *now* in case you do have to evacuate quickly. It'll make things so much easier when it comes to insurance claim time--especially as you try to remember what was destroyed possession wise.

 
At 7:43 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

OH my goodness!! So scary. We will pray for you guys. Keep safe.

 
At 7:48 PM, Blogger heidi said...

so scary! but thanks for all the updating on the city pulling together. it is amazing what people can accomplish when there is a need.
you are in our prayers.

 
At 9:37 PM, Blogger Andrea Fowler said...

I found it! I can't wait to read more.

It was fun being at the scene of action with you. Thanks for getting me out there. I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted and can't wait to crawl into bed!

 
At 5:34 AM, Blogger Katrina said...

Thoughts and prayers to you and your city!

 
At 8:18 AM, Blogger andrewsrock said...

i had no idea you guys were going through this. I hope everything works out for the good. sounds like you live in a great community. How scary though. We will be praying for you!!!

 
At 11:55 AM, Blogger Amanda said...

I have been thinking about you guys since I saw this come across the news. I am glad you are OK for now. I will definitely keep you in my prayers.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home