Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Still Fighting: Part Two

After sandbagging again in Fargo today, it's very clear that they still need a lot of help. There's still a lot of work to be done as the river creeps closer and closer to homes. A sense of urgency can be felt in the entire city, I even saw a National Guard truck loaded with sand escorted by Fargo police to get to the needed areas quicker.

Also, I just noticed a crawl on my TV screen saying Grafton needs immediate help shoring up their dikes, so if you're reading this and you're in the Grafton area, please consider helping out. Instructions were to meet at the Grafton City Hall. Dress warm, and bring gloves.

I drove over the Red today and noticed an extreme increase in traffic. There are a lot of curious folks out there who want to see exactly what's going on. The city urged people to stay away and not go look at the River...but I mean really, that's like setting a steak in front of a dog and telling him not to eat it. We definitely have a right to see the river that taxpayers have paid plenty of money protecting against. Now I don't necessarily condone driving back and forth over the bridges to gawk at the river while it is much easier to just park downtown and walk to see it for yourself. That's what I did tonight where I snapped the following pictures:





Definitely a lot different than it was this summer:



Alright, I need some sleep...then it's back to Fargo again tomorrow morning.

As of this post,

Red River @ Fargo: 32.59 feet
Red River @ Grand Forks: 38.88 feet

Also, it appears they will be closing the Sorlie (DeMers) bridge tomorrow morning at 10 am.


Grafton Update:

From the Herald...

Volunteers answer call to Grafton; official says there's enough help for now

Grafton, N.D., is discouraging out-of-town volunteers from driving to the city Tuesday night to help with sandbagging due to icy roads and a no travel advisory for Walsh County, according to a city official.

City Auditor Connie Johnson said they will probably need more volunteers Wednesday morning and during the day, but she strongly encouraged those interested to call the volunteer hotline at (701) 360-3281 before driving to town.

Current information on the city’s flood fight can also be found at www.graftongov.com.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Another thank you for you, JP. This time it's for taking pictures of the river downtown and posting them. I WANT to stay away from the bridge to avoid unnecessary congestion, but I DO want to see what it looks like!

10 more feet to go... *sigh*

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting!!! I'm orginally from the Twin Cities and I am stuck down here in the cities until the roadways are more safe. It's great to know and see what is going on up at my second home because of school.