Who knew our vicarage would consist of sandbagging, dike building, and flood fighting? It’s unbelievable; you wouldn’t believe it!
The waiting game has begun. The front line of defense has been built up to 43-44 feet. With the crest expecting to be somewhere between 41-42 feet. And they are still not ruling out the very real possibility of a 43 foot crest. The good news is that because the weather has been so cold, it has really slowed down the rising of the mighty Red River. Ice and snow is not able to melt so that has given more time to ensure dikes are standing strong and backup bags are being made and stored. At last projection, they now think the crest will not be seen until Sunday. Once the river crests it will lay that height for about 3-7 days before it begins to go down. It’s going to be close and the hardest part is now just sitting back, keeping an eye on the dikes, and waiting for the water to rise. Water has poured into backyards and streets are flooded from melting snow and clogged drains. The regular shoreline of the river is now being held at least 200 yards beyond normal. Again, the water is about 30 feet higher in the river right now. For the most part the levees are up and the dikes have been built. The bulk of most volunteer sandbagging has completed. Well over 3 million sandbags are estimated to have been made over the past 5 days. Last I heard over 30,000 volunteers have been here from all over the nation. Fire departments from all over Minnesota and at least 1,800 National Guard members are on the frontline, walking the dikes 24/7 to make sure no leaks or breaches occur.
Currently they are evacuating; about 1/3 of Moorhead people have been strongly encouraged to evacuate. Not sure about the numbers of Fargo but they do are asking certain residents to evacuate. Most of this is done as precautionary and to limit people/traffic in the area. The hope is still that all of dikes will hold back the water. All patients from area hospitals have been evacuated and sent to hospitals throughout the state. Nursing homes and senior communities have also been closed and their residents dispersed to families or other places statewide. Any business that does not aide in flood relief has been asked to close until further notice. Streets are closed and arrests are being made without hesitation if you are somewhere where you should not or do not need to be. (Even a CNN reporter was arrested for being too near a dike.) All colleges are closed until further notice and public schools in the Fargo-Moorhead area have already cancelled school for all of next week. In fact, the college campuses have been evacuated to help prevent sewage backup. Everyone has been told to plug all their basement drains. People throughout the two cities have been asked to limit their water use to aid with this help.
It should be noted that the area did know this was coming, so we were prepared. However, it is much worse than expected! As the mayor of Fargo said, this is unchartered territory. A number of factors combined to make this flooding the worst in the Fargo-Moorhead area, in all of recorded history. The fall of 2008 was extremely wet and saturated the ground. That ground has since frozen and not thawed out so there is no where for melting snow and ice to go. In addition, over the past week over 2 inches of rain and 8 inches of snow have fallen.
So we’re not out of the woods yet! Not at all, phase one has been completed and phase two is underway as we wait on the river. Smaller towns north and south of Fargo-Moorhead have not been so lucky, those without the resources and manpower found in FM. These cities have been turned into lakes. One day this past week I was going to go out to a city called Oakport, and they redirected us saying there was nothing more that could be done for this area. Another small town, Georgetown, is completely submerged with most sandbagging efforts now rendered useless.
We ourselves have evacuated—sort of. We were supposed to be in the Twin Cities this weekend for our niece’s birthday party anyway. We had originally decided not to go so we could continue to help with volunteers and be around for any church members who were in need. Our apartment building is in no real flood danger, perhaps just sewage backup. And since we are on the third floor we will definitely remain out of the waters. But now the city is slowly starting to shut off water, and since we did not want be in a situation where we could not wash Isaiah’s bottles we thought it would be smart for us to journey on south. Plus, I did not want Calie driving down south alone so now we are all in St. Peter at Calie’s parents. We may still go back to the FM area tonight or perhaps stay until Monday or so.
This certainly all sounds grim. There are many frustrations, anger, and broken hearts. People are facing the very really responsibility of losing their homes. There is a silver lining! Not a single person has fallen victim to this flood so far, no deaths! And the optimistic attitude is still our battle cry. “We’re going to beat this!” “We’re not giving up!” “We are not going down with a fight!” But it has been awesome to see the community come together. People from all backgrounds, all denominations, many faiths, many states, and all ages—coming together for the good of people in need. Working their butts off to protect people from losing their homes. It has been awesome. College and high school students have been doing so much hard labor. Businesses have been donating food, resources, and their employees. Volunteers who can not to the hard labor have been making sandwiches, providing childcare, baking cookies, and offering massages. Chiropractors and doctors are even giving free services to those serving. People really come together in times such as this, just too bad it often takes a disaster to unite us. There is still a long way to go, much to be done. Please continue to pray for this area. That is perhaps the greatest need, that in all of this people will turn to God and put their faith/trust in Him.
By the way, a good website to keep posted of Red River flooding is www.valleyfloodwatch.com.
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