c’moooon… enough of this crap.
Perhaps we could spend another decade or two quibbling about how to protect the area?
Big kudos for our state and federal politicians for working to accomplish not a whole lot since the 2009 flood.
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The Red River in Fargo has crested and is declining, but the real focus the past few days and into this week are along the Sheyenne river. The cities of Valley City, Lisbon and many other small areas surrounding the Sheyenne are under high alert this week and expect to see record crests. My thoughts go out to the people in our community that are suffering because of our water. Whether it is the Red River or the Sheyenne… we are all connected and we will all suffer if any of our communities go under. For those of us in the Fargo area, please remember that the Sheyenne definitely could impact our area, even if W. Fargo has a diversion. Here are some of the news reports I have been seeing/hearing:
Stay safe! THE RED HAS CRESTED AND IS DROPPING! (Knock on wood) We are beating this darn flood in Fargo and things are looking good. The USGS shows that the Red River crested at 38.75 feet in Fargo and the level is continuing to drop. Please, if you are still thinking about getting out to help, please do so. The FM area might be in need, but our surrounding communities and rural homes likely need assistance. Even though many things have been done within city limits, our outlying areas and communities are still at the mercy of this dang river. This is still an enormous flood and it looks like Fargo might be escaping many of these problems, but fellow North Dakotans might not. Stay safe! The Grand Forks Herald reports that “Fargo wraps up fight.” This is bull. I am optimistic about this year’s flood, but there is plenty going on in flood preparation. I stopped by the Oak Grove neighborhood and there is all sorts of stuff going on just in that one area alone. There are sandbags that still need to be tossed and areas that need to be buttoned up. The fight is NOT wrapped up until the water goes down. This is the kind of complacency that people are talking about and the Grand Forks Herald should know better. In addition, the article talks about Fargo and Moorhead, but fails to mention the numerous communities throughout Eastern North Dakota. Fargo and Moorhead might be getting close to feeling better about this crest, but there are plenty of other outlying communities and farmsteads that will need help throughout the region. This is not buttoned up. The crest is on its way! Today the NWS predicted that the flood crest should reach us by this Sunday evening and it will crest at 39.5 feet here in Fargo. Although 39.5 feet seems like a relatively low crest (or at least people seem to be considering it a relief), please remember that this crest level would be the third highest level on record. It is ok to be happy for this news, but this is still a dangerous level. Not only could this cause issues in Fargo, the outlying communities will still have plenty of issues. There are rumblings of a heavy precipitation event that could happen this weekend also. The NWS indicates that this weather event could cause the Red to get up to 41 feet. I will be watching this storm with caution and any weather that will be passing over in the next week. We all know that weather prediction is not an exact science and Mother Nature could decide to throw us a curveball at any moment. I am cautiously optimistic for the Fargo Moorhead community and hope that all of our ag producers and local communities stay safe. When is the crest date? The experts MUST have an opinion by this point and I would sure hope they share that with us in the near future. I know that the initial guess may not be right, but put something out there for us. My understanding is that the Red River in Fargo is supposed to be at 37 feet by next Sunday, which is a HUGE jump considering we just entered into minor flood stage not too long ago. Today, we crossed the 25 ft threshold and entered into moderate flood stage. It has been pretty crazy to see the water rise at the rate it has, but a quick rise is really what was predicted. Our melt has been fairly slow up until the past few days, but it is really picking up now. We deserve to know what the experts believe the crest date and maximum level to be. The call for volunteers will be going out again this week in both Fargo and Moorhead and do not forget to give the volunteer number a call to see where you can help out. As a side note, I just received a Code Red message that reads “Hello, this is a Code Red Message from Lieutenant Gene Anderson of the Fargo Police Department .?. Please stay on t” – The end. Let’s get these kinks worked out before any disaster. I then received a voice message telling me the complete message. Possibly 9 PM is too late for non-disaster calls? Stay safe Red River Valley and let’s kick this year’s flood’s butt! Well, we are on our way to the 2011 Red River crest. The snow was rapidly melting and a trip down to the dike will show a rapidly rising Red River. Rob Kupec via Twitter indicated that the Red River is expected to top 30 feet by Wednesday and 37 by next Sunday. Although we still have no predicted crest date, 37 feet is getting awfully close to where the top will (hopefully) be. I would hope that officials and experts will be able to narrow in on a crest date within the week. It looks like we could have additional rain over the next 10 days, but hopefully they will turn out to be duds. Sandbags are going out this week and I am sure a flurry of activity will be starting! Stay safe!
I have recently been seeing many people being encouraged to vote for Fargo as the “Toughest Weather City.” Granted, us Fargoans go through some shi….. stuff, but I, for one, am not the most fond of us winning this accolade. If we want our city to grow, this is not the kind of advertising that I want portrayed to the rest of the world. “Move to Fargo… we have the crappiest weather in the US” is not a slogan I want for my home town. Everybody knows it gets very cold here. The nation is under the impression that we have been flooding every year since the beginning of time. I am used to outside people saying “I loved that movie” when I mention my home town. Our mosquitoes are bigger than horses. I get it; some might think our weather sucks (and sometimes I agree), but I am not voting for Fargo as the toughest weather city. “Most exciting weather city”, possibly that is something I could get behind. It sounds better and puts a better spin on -30 days. Instead of voting for Fargo as having terrible weather, I would prefer to talk about how we are going to save our communities from the flood. Maybe we could talk about how nice it is to have a change of seasons. Not many other regions in the US offer ice fishing as a local sporting opportunity. There are plenty other subjects to focus on other than telling the world how terrible our weather is. I understand that it is all fun and games, but I don’t want us to win this thing… we have sandbagging to do! |
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