MPR’s Dan Gunderson reports on how Fargo-Moorhead learned they had as little as 36 hours to raise dikes by two feet because the Red River could go higher than earlier predicted. Hundreds of people worked through the night in an effort to beat the clock.
People in the Red River Valley have been preparing for weeks for expected flooding, but no one anticipated the amount of water that has been moving north along the river...devastating towns and farms along the way.
The Red River flood of 1997 was a major flood that occurred in April and May 1997 along the Red River of the North in Minnesota, North Dakota, and southern Manitoba. The flood was the result of abundant snowfall and extreme temperatures. It was the most severe flood of the river since 1826. Water spread throughout the Red River Valley and affected the cities of Fargo and Winnipeg…but the greatest impact was in Grand Forks and East Grand Forks, where floodwaters reached more than 3 miles inland. Damages in the Red River region totaled $3.5 billion. As a result of the 1997 flood and its extensive property losses, the United States and state governments made additional improvements to the flood protection system in North Dakota and Minnesota, creating dike systems.
Transcripts
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[HELICOPTER BLADES WHIRRING] DAN GUNDERSON: Morehead sounds and looks like a community preparing for an invasion. Army National Guard helicopters fly overhead. Humvees and 5-ton trucks rumble through the streets. The local National Guard headquarters is abuzz with activity. Captain Tim [? Coitin ?] says the toughest part of the job has been fighting through ice and water to rescue stranded people from small towns and the countryside.
[? TIM COITIN: ?] When bumpers are bending on 5-ton trucks, it's heavy ice and tough on tough on soldiers in the vehicles.
DAN GUNDERSON: Captain [? Coitin ?] expects more evacuations as the record spring flood waters roll north toward Canada.
[? TIM COITIN: ?] As the waters continue to rise and move north, yes, it's sweeping into towns, places where they've never been flooded before, and people don't expect flood waters around their house. And all of a sudden it happens, and they're trapped. So they need to be taken out with trucks, with other heavy equipment, and even to the point of helicopters having to come in and pull them out.
DAN GUNDERSON: About a block away from the National Guard post is Sandbag Central. A large city garage has been turned into a sandbag manufacturing plant. Dozens of volunteers fill bags and load them on trucks to be hauled to neighborhoods where volunteers are fighting to save homes from the rising water.
SPEAKER 1: You need one.
SPEAKER 2: You just want to move that dumpster--
DAN GUNDERSON: Across town, a line of volunteers winds from Paul [? Comeau's ?] driveway around to the back of his house. Sandbags quickly pass from hand to hand, ending up on top of a dike that grows steadily higher.
SPEAKER 3: Oh man! I think we've had something like at least 80 people here. 40 here right now, I think it is. And the young bodies are really good. They don't play out like us old codgers.
[PEOPLE SINGING]
DAN GUNDERSON: Dave Solem has been hefting the 30-pound sandbags for hours. It's late at night in 19 degree temperatures. Still, he's upbeat.
DAVE SOLEM: It's not cold after you get working for a while. And actually, it turns out to be kind of fun. So you feel like you're doing something good. And it's actually kind of fun.
DAN GUNDERSON: Just down the block, the National Guard is working to build an earthen dike 2 feet higher. Nearby, working under large floodlights, city workers plugged sewers to keep out river water. City employee Adam Powers explains.
ADAM POWERS: So they're down there punching in a plug. And they might even have a diver down there. We've had to have some people go down into at least 15 feet of water to go put a plug in.
DAN GUNDERSON: Down in the sewer, or?
ADAM POWERS: In the storm sewer. Last night we had him down in the sanitary sewer from-- we had some guys from the fire department go through, and they volunteered to go do that, just to make sure that everything was plugged up.
DAN GUNDERSON: All of these preparations are the responsibility of weary Moorhead Public Works director Bob Martin. At the city's emergency operations center, Martin sits at a table surrounded by phones. He's had a couple of hours of sleep in the last two days. But tonight he's feeling good despite the higher than expected river levels.
BOB MARTIN: It's not a lot of time to get prepared for that type of an event to begin with. And then when you put a higher stage in the last couple of days, that's pretty strenuous. So there are major events, and we have to be cautious. But I'm optimistic. We feel good about what's going on right now.
DAN GUNDERSON: Between telephone calls, Martin jokes, he's putting bets on a lower than expected river crest. He claims to have inside information.
Are you talking to god, now, Bob?
BOB MARTIN: Yes, I am. [? I'm ?] talking to god a lot lately [? and ?] praying.
DAN GUNDERSON: The praying and the preparation will continue today as Fargo-Moorhead prepares for an expected river crest late tonight or Friday. I'm Dan Gunderson, Minnesota Public Radio, Moorhead.