On Wednesday, North High School students were let out of school to help sandbag. They had unexpected help by the Harlem Globe Trotters. On Thursday, South High students were let out of school to help. They had unexpected help from the USA Hockey Team. (Currently Fargo is hosting the World Hockey Competition for men 18 and younger.)
Everyone feels pretty confident about controlling the Red River. The Sheyenne river is a whole different story. The Sheyenne River keeps going up and up. Water everywhere! We bus drivers have to stay on paved roads only because many of the gravel roads are under water or washed away. Hwy 16 is also under water in two places.
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Here's what today's paper says:
An expert on flood control warned rural Cass County residents Thursday that the Sheyenne River is expected to reach unprecedented levels in the upcoming second crest. Jeff Volk, an engineer who advises local governments on flood control, briefed residents at a meeting organized by Cass County officials to help prepare for the second crest on the Red River and its tributaries.“They’re telling us on the Sheyenne River it’s going to be more than they’ve ever seen,” Volk said. Residents should prepare for overland flooding because the Sheyenne will overflow its banks, especially south of Horace, N.D., to Kindred, N.D., he said.
Valley City and Lisbon are struggling. I just heard a man on TV say that where he lives, the river went up 10 feet in 24 hr, yesterday. The Sheyenne River is already 2 feet above the record high and all that extra water is heading towards Kindred.
We are also dealing with overland flooding. Some of that is starting to recede. With 50 degree temps forecasted for the next few days...we should see the end of the snow......well maybe most of it...but first a little more flooding. Here's a picture that I took this morning of the receding water. Until now all the fields have been lakes....and lakes....and lakes.
Today I helped sandbag the home of a couple kids on my bus. They live just south of Horace. They had a system worked out. They set up two chairs...put a ladder between them...between the runs of the ladder they place upside down orange cones that had their points cut off. One person would put three shovels of sand into the upside down cone, while another person, sitting on an upside down pail would hold up a bag to catch the sand as it went through the cone. Another person would carry off the bag. It worked slick. You can see this process in this picture that I took: (the empty seat..err, pail...was my seat before I got up to take the picture.)
Two more pictures to help put things in perspective. We still have a lot of snow. Granted most of it will go within the next couple days because of the warm temps...but the snow bank next to my car is still taller than my car:
And where is all this snow going to go? (The bottom picture was taken on the North side of our yard.)There is still a lot of snow that needs to melt. The ground is saturated..so where is it going to go?...and rain is in the forecast... Hm-m-m. So the bottom line is..."It isn't done yet."
note: all these pictures were taken today. I got up early to get a couple of them. While I'm driving my school bus, I often think that I wish I could stop and take a picture...well, today there was no school, so I took my camera for a ride. None of the pictures have been enhanced. (You may have been wondering about the one at the top of the page.) It's fun to take shots early in the day when the colors are so brilliant!
note: all these pictures were taken today. I got up early to get a couple of them. While I'm driving my school bus, I often think that I wish I could stop and take a picture...well, today there was no school, so I took my camera for a ride. None of the pictures have been enhanced. (You may have been wondering about the one at the top of the page.) It's fun to take shots early in the day when the colors are so brilliant!
