The Civicus of Floods

Currently almost every river in North Dakota is flooding- and this has given me the opportunity to learn a lot about flooding that I didn’t know before. For instance, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) actually tracks river levels and determines flooding based on “stages”. Tim has been tracking this closely (and you can too- here: NOAA Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service for Lisbon, ND) and this has helped assist us determine dike heights and additional requirements for sandbag walls. This year we are setting records for stage height. Fargo is currently predicting a 41 foot flood stage when the river crests (a new term as well- meaning when the river reaches its high point)- this obviously is going to cause a lot of problems for those folks that lower than 41 feet above the river level! So what are cities to do?

Well, the answer is a giant call for volunteers. Almost all cities are recruiting volunteers to fill sandbags and build sandbag walls. This is the essential reason NDSU has been closed for 4 days (it has been closed up until Thursday), so that the student body can fill sandbags at the Fargo Dome. Almost all communities (including ours here on rural 32) are stepping up to stop the flood waters as best as we can. Cities are limiting water consumption as the floods cause lifts to break, and crews are out in force using mobile pumps to remove water. However, there is a slight dark side to the civic nature of fighting floods- the so called “lookey-lou”. Lookey-lou’s are criminals who drive slowly or stand watching the flood efforts or taking pictures. Almost every city has imposed a blanket ban on “lookey-lous”, claiming they can arrest for citizens who do so, or instant conscription into sandbag filling teams. Hopefully then you can appreciate the great danger to myself as I took these pictures from the truck as we went to go get groceries- so that you can see how Lisbon prepared for the flood.

: Fields Flooded off of 32

: Sandbagging the Elevator

: Water runs into the valley in Lisbon

: A County Truck tries to Pump out the Lifts

: Flood water going into Lisbon

: We are Lookey-Lous!

: River Flooding vs. Overland Flooding

: Several Pumps to move approaching water

: Pumping preparations behind the dike

: All you need is sand and bags

: The finished product

The national guard, the police, and almost every state government organization are out fighting the flood. They have even come up with some creative ideas to solve specific problems. For instance, here at 7052- our main issue is that ice floes are trapped in a corner of the Sheyenne river. This by itself is what is causing the backup of water that is steadily progressing towards the basement (and the run over of the river across the 19 foot dike). Ice floes in the region are a considerable problem- and communities have tried to break up the ice using several measures including:

Using heaving movers and excavators to dig out the ice (if they can find stable ground to not loose the machinery!)
Throwing dynamite out over the ice and exploding it (not effective)
Dismantling bridges in the way of the floes (difficult)
Using bombers from the Air National Guard to bomb the ice (true story)

Hopefully all this effort will pay off! The crest is expected on Friday, and that is the time when we determine whether we managed to do enough, or if all of our efforts were in vain!