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Mar 20, 2009 5:52 pm US/Central
Sandbags Vs. Floods: Let The Battle Begin
(WCCO)
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It will take about one and a half million sandbags to build a 41 foot wall to protect the city.
CBS
Volunteers have started to create a massive sandbag wall in Fargo, N.D., to try to hold back the expected onslaught of the Red River.
The river is getting higher and higher each day and is expected to crest at levels close to the record flooding of 1997.
The latest projections are that it will crest between 37 and 40 feet in the next couple weeks. The latest National Weather Service projections say it could happen as soon as next weekend.
The river crested at about 39 and a half feet in 1997 flood. That's why residents and emergency responders are growing increasingly concerned about what's ahead.
Starting Saturday, "sandbag central" will operate 24 hours a day, staffed by volunteers and city staff.
It will take about one and a half million sandbags to build a 41 foot wall to protect the city.
No where is it looking more severe than in the Fargo-Moorhead area.
To respond to the expected flooding across the river in Moorhead and greater Clay County, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety did what it calls a "partial activation" of its Emergency Operations Center in St. Paul.
The center will serve as the command post to help coordinate the flood battle across a number of Minnesota counties.
"We're going to be tracking it closely and we'll give you the latest we have," said a National Weather Service who briefed state responders over a conference call.
The call is just the first stage of the state's effort at coordinating hydrologists, first responders, law enforcement as well as the many others who are responsible for the flood battle.
"There's a lot of water out there yet, that's still frozen, and it's should begin flowing soon," said Public Safety spokesman Doug Neville.
Neville said by next week the center will be pulling in more people to staff the operation.
Already in Fargo, low-lying roads are being closed off and sandbags are being filled.
"The difference is there's a lot of water in North Dakota right now ... at this point they're looking at a lot of water on that side, and the way the topography is," said Neville.
One of the big concerns throughout the Fargo-Moorhead area is coming from the miles and miles of creeks and culverts. They're currently not flowing and draining the snowmelt gradually and instead are filling up because most are still plugged with snow and ice.
Consequently, when they thaw and melt, all that water will release in a very short period of time.
To prevent some of the backup, big shovels and backhoes are beginning to clear the ditches. Elsewhere, bulldozers are turning mounds of dirt into temporary levees to help protect downtown Fargo.
As if that's not a problem enough, the National Weather Service is now predicting that a major rain storm could hit the area by early next week.
Fargo's mayor said sandbagging will continue around the clock until the threat and the water passes.
Mayor Dennis Walaker cautioned, "If the storm that's coming -- with an inch and a half or more of rain -- crosses the same path as the one last Tuesday, that will accelerate the runoff."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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