The media is finally covering the flood in North Dakota. Ed Schultz hosting 1600 on MSNBC covered it Monday, and Brian Williams did last night on NBC Nightly News. Check the video just to the right of the news story.
The short version is the Red River of the North, prone to minor/moderate flooding, is having a severe flood expected to surpass the Great Flood of 1997, in which part of downtown Grand Forks burned to the ground.
Below you will find updated new as I can find it. Some of the articles may require free registration to read, those from inforum and the Grand Forks Herald, but the same registration works for both sites.
First off, I want to ask for your help. If you are able to get to the area, volunteers are still needed and welcome for sandbagging. Also, if you are unable to volunteer and would like to help, please donate to the Red Cross. If you phone or mail-in your donation, you can specify the disaster you would like to donate towards.
Second, some good news. North Dakota has received a Presidential Disaster Declaration, which will help free up federal funds to help cover the costs of sandbagging, evacuations, and all-around relief efforts.
In Fargo:
A desperate plea for volunteers was echoed across the Fargo-Moorhead area today - with Fargo and Moorhead making repeated calls for help. Other towns like Oxbow, Briarwood and subdivisions within Cass and Clay counties said they could still use help.
A significant turnout by volunteers cranked out 450,000 sand-bags in the 24 hours ending early this morning, boosting confidence of city, county and state officials that the city will hold back the Red River’s rising floodwaters.
The river at Fargo surpassed major flood stage of 30 feet at about 8 a.m. and had risen another 3 inches by 9:15 a.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.
Also, kossack noddem was one of thousands of volunteers in Fargo yesterday and sends along these photos (my title, noddem's comments in the blockquotes below):
The Dike in Progress
I would estimate that it took around 600-700 people about 5 hours to set these up.
Goldy Gopher would like to thank Shane for his dedicated effort!
Mostly UND and Fargo North High School vols. Shoutout to Shane in the brown hoodie!
The flood waters are deceptively low
View from the other end of the top picture. The river is about 40 [feet?] inland from its normal state.
Fargo's updated Flood Warning:
THE FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES FOR
THE RED RIVER AT FARGO.
* UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE...OR UNTIL THE WARNING IS CANCELLED.
* AT 9:15 PM TUESDAY THE STAGE WAS 32.6 FEET.
* MAJOR FLOODING IS OCCURRING AND MAJOR FLOODING IS FORECAST.
* FLOOD STAGE IS 18.0 FEET.
* FORECAST...THE RIVER WILL CONTINUE RISING TO BETWEEN 39 AND 41 FEET BY
FRIDAY EVENING...THEN REMAIN NEAR THE CREST FOR AT LEAST SEVERAL DAYS.
* IMPACT STATEMENT(S) - AT 40.0 FEET, FARGO...TOP OF THE ISLAND PARK
DIKE. MOORHEAD...RED RIVER IS LAPPING AT THE BASE OF THE HERITAGE
HJEMKOMST INTERPRETIVE CENTER.
DAILY 7 AM CDT/6 AM CST FORECAST STAGE IN FEET:
DATE WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE
(MONTH/DAY) 03/25 03/26 03/27 03/28 03/29 03/30 03/31
RED RIVER
FARGO 36.9 38.8 39.6 40.0 40.0 40.0 40.0
In Grand Forks:
One of the two main bridges across the river closes today.
The Grand Forks Herald has a webcam showing the current river level that is aimed at the bridge mentioned above. Keep in Mind, the river is normally about 20-30 feet BELOW that bridge.
The updated Grand Forks/East Grand Forks Flood Warning:
THE FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES FOR
THE RED RIVER AT EAST GRAND FORKS.
* UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE...OR UNTIL THE WARNING IS CANCELLED.
* AT 9:30 PM TUESDAY THE STAGE WAS 39.1 FEET.
* MINOR FLOODING IS OCCURRING AND MAJOR FLOODING IS FORECAST.
* FLOOD STAGE IS 28.0 FEET.
* FORECAST...THE RIVER WILL CONTINUE RISING TO BETWEEN 50 TO 53 FEET BY
NEXT MONDAY THROUGH TUESDAY.
* IMPACT STATEMENT(S) - AT 52.6 FEET, WATER ON GATEWAY DRIVE APPROACH
TO KENNEDY BRIDGE IN EAST GRAND FORKS.
DAILY 7 AM CDT/6 AM CST FORECAST STAGE IN FEET:
DATE WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE
(MONTH/DAY) 03/25 03/26 03/27 03/28 03/29 03/30 03/31
RED RIVER
EAST GRAND FORKS 44.8 47.6 49.8 50.9 51.4 51.5 51.6
Also in urgent need, Bismarck:
A major winter storm raised flood fears for Bismarck on the Missouri River on Tuesday, even as communities 200 miles to the east along the Red River fought to hold back rising waters there.
Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., called Bismarck "the most urgent threat" in North Dakota because of ice jams north and south of town and heavy snow forecast.
Officials may take drastic action to remove those ice jams:
With record amounts of water feeding into the Missouri River from swollen tributaries on top of a blizzard, state officials were considering using National Guard helicopters to dynamite an ice jam to ease flooding around Bismarck.
A near miss from my college Alma Mater, Crookston, Minnesota:
Mayor Dave Genereux woke up at 4 a.m. Tuesday to discover his home had lost power. That was the highlight of his day until the afternoon.
That’s because the Red Lake River was rising dramatically — almost four feet in four hours —and was within six inches of topping protection in some areas.
City officials earlier called for sandbagging volunteers to report to the hockey arena at 10 a.m. But they couldn’t wait, sounding citywide sirens at 9:40 a.m. to signal the emergency.
Thankfully approximately 1,000 or more volunteers showed up to help save the town.
How did the army improve Dave Genereux’s day? Here’s how: He sought city-wide protection to a 27-foot river level by the end of the day. He got 28 feet.
Since the latest forecast calls for a crest of 26.5 feet Thursday or Friday, Crookston has a cushion for the expected precipitation.
Here are a few photos taken by one of my friends of the efforts in Crookston, including one of the services provide from donations to the Salvation Army (nonmilitant wing):
Finally, I want to end as I began. If you are in the area or can get to the area to volunteer, I don't know that anyone would say no. Otherwise, if you'd like to make a donation, please try the Red Cross. If you phone or mail-in the donation, you can specify the disaster you'd like it to go towards.
Also, if you're so inclined, please contact your local and/or national media and ask them to cover this story. The more people who are aware, the more help my friends (and some fellow kossacks) will receive.
Update [2009-3-25 12:7:11 by guyermo]:
Some more good news from Moorhead, just across the river from Fargo:
One Moorhead homeowner called them a godsend.
City officials said a critical stretch of the city’s flood defenses would have been hurting without them.
"I’m shocked and very pleased," said Moorhead City Engineer Bob Zimmerman, referring to what groups of student volunteers accomplished Tuesday.
What the students and other workers did was to link dozens of private sandbag dikes together to form a continuous line of defense nearly three miles long, from Horn Park to approximately 40th Avenue South.
But all-around bad news for the entire region. A snowstorm has come through and is in the process of dumping 5-8 inches of snow, causing airports to close and for many communities to stop busing volunteers because of the travel risks.