It's becoming a real adventure trying to figure out ways to get from here to there in this area! Yesterday the highway leading east out of town was closed because of water on the road, so I had to take the north route...which turned out to be an adventure because a stretch of that highway was under water with fast rushing water over it. By the late afternoon, the east highway (hwy 200) was clear and I could get home -except I went cross country to get into town on the north side, avoiding the stretch underwater (hwy 9). The highway to the south of town (hwy 9)quickly was overcome in several spots by overland flooding and was closed after a while of just "difficult" driving conditions through water. I had to work at JCP in Fargo last night and luckily the highway leading out west (hwy 200) was clear as was hwy 75 leading into Moorhead. It started raining in Fargo around 7ish and I was pretty worried about being able to get home since I know hwy 200 to the west of Ada often fills up and overflows fast. I was able to get home fine in the rain by 10:30. Quite a scary thing driving down highways in the pitch dark, in the rain, with dark reflections of water on either side of the road as far as the eye can see!! By this morning that west route coming into town (hwy 200) was overcome with water and is still closed at this time. Hwy 9 south of town is still closed and the north route, hwy 9, is not closed by still has that running water over it. The east side is high and dry for the most part...it's all run down to the west.
In town things look a bit dryer. The city has put sandbags around strategic manholes and the creek behind my apartment is slowly falling due to a BUNCH of junk taken out at the culvert/bridge at the edge of town under hwy 9 (on the north side). Huge tree trunks, blocks of ice the size of refridgerators, and other debris are sitting on the banks of that creek. This morning I had to be up rather early (5am) so I could make it to a student's meeting about 90 mn to the northeast and both before and during my shower the power went out for a few seconds at a time. Scary stuff. And kind of stressful when you've got places to go!!
Tonight we are in a winter weather advisory because we've got a cold snap coming in with 2-5 inches of snow and lots of wind. Fun fun! On Thursday, it appears to be tapering off as far as the precipitation goes, and that's good because I have to drive down to the Austin area for my interview on Friday. After checking around with hotels in Austin, I decided to ask my sister if I could stay at her and her husband's place in Mankato Thursday night as well (I am staying there Friday night) because since my interview is in the afternoon and each hotel have early "late checkouts" (in my opinion), I didn't want to wait around town a couple hours. So I know I'll get a comfortable rest at Anna's Thursday night and will be able to drive about an hour and a half early Friday afternoon to get to Austin.
Then it's to Perham for the rest of the weekend for my sister's confirmation on Sunday. I hope when I finally get back home that I will be able to get into town and the water does not overtake the town or surrounding areas. Fargo-Moorhead has been in crisis mode and today the towns to the west of me (Hendrum and Halstad) are in sandbagging mode. Crookston, to the north of me is inundated with water as well because of ice jams in the windy Red Lake River there. Here are some links to some news on the flood fight in this area: The Fargo Forum website, KFGO a major AM station in the Fargo Moorhead area the covers a wide range of communities up and down the Red River Valley, WDAY station where you can watch newscasts and see the sandbagging and dike/levy efforts (especially see March 22-now newscasts), my local radio station KRJB with announcements/information for my town and surrounding area, and KVLY another Fargo-Moorhead TV station with newscasts and news articles.
WDAY, The Fargo Forum, KVLY, and KFGO all have pages of pictures or videos of the flood battle. The Fargo Forum website also has a blog entitled Forum Flood Blog (located in a link in a black box on the top of the webpage). Lots of stuff to look at. The communities to the south of Fargo-Moorhead got hit hard already and it's heartbreaking to see that devastation. It certainly is not over -and it will likely get worse before it gets better -especially as you go north from Fargo-Moorhead.
In fact, all three major universities in Fargo-Moorhead have cancelled classes Monday, Tuesday, and again on Wednesday so that students are encouraged to get out and help the sandbagging effort. The estimate that Fargo-Moorhead ALONE needs approximately 2 MILLION sandbags to feel comfortable the river will be contained. Yesterday apparently with all the volunteer help, 480,000 sandbags were filled! That's awesome and I hope the weather helps the process of putting them out where they're intended to go...not hinders the effort. Most small schools in the areas have cancelled school or are only picking up the kids they can safely get at. Most high schools are excusing kids with parents' permission to go sandbag and help build dikes. The national guard is also in full effect in this area. A unit is expected to come to Ada tonight or tomorrow to assist this county. After the rivers crest (and before too, I guess), the dikes need to be constantly monitored by "dike walkers" 24/7 to ensure there are no leaks, breeches, or any other kind of problem that would cause overflow.
I've taken some pictures, but not a lot and I'll post the ones I have at some time. I'd like to have more, but it hasn't been safe to pull over on a highway to capture the vastness of water sitting and running all over the place. I also don't want to be near closed roads and barricades just to take pictures because law enforcement really does not like that! :-) That's fine with me. I have a healthy regard for dangerous situations!
So there's my flood update of the day. If you want a good idea, check out the Fargo Forum site and browse through articles, the blog, and pictures. It's amazing at how people come together and become neighborly during times like this.
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