Flood in 2009? (Fargo, Grand Forks, Wahpeton: home, safety, estimated)

[Fischer_girl]

I just moved out of North Dakota about a month ago and I'm curious to know about the flood status. I saw some status changes on facebook regarding sandbagging and some random water pictures.
What are the latests events/predictions?
Anyone have pictures yet? or... has nothing happened yet?

[g33kgrl]

Inforum newspaper online has a bunch of articles, pictures and links to other updates.

[dutchinnd]

50% chance of meeting or slightly exceeding the 1997 flood for Fargo; dikes are being built to handle 40'.

[magiccity]

The town of Linton is under water, just when they won the Class B basketball.

[mj.cello]

I believe we're looking at 40-41 feet on Friday.

[c0ldfuse]

They need an estimated ~1.5 million sandbags. As of Sunday night, there were roughly 350,000 filled. It's a 24 hour cycle now.

I heard from a friend on the Concordia Moorhead campus they have begun limited water usage to conserve for later this week. There is a high probability they will be sent home to further conserve water. It's not looking good, especially considering the storms of last night/today.

[dutchinnd]

450,000 sandbags were filled in a 24-hour period yesterday, thanks in large part the fantastic turnout of all of the students in Fargo-Moorhead. About 10,000 volunteers showed up yesterday, and we'll need a similar turnout today to meet the goal. Take some ibuprofen and keep on filling and slinging those sandbags!

[Kerby W-R]

I'll keep everyone there in my prayers and I wish you all the best.
One question...
After the '97 flood why haven't they put any dams along the river to prevent flooding ?
Wishing you all safety and wellness.

[dutchinnd]

You're one question is a rather large one. Grand Forks and Wahpeton "lost" the flood fight in 1997, while Fargo and Moorhead "won" the battle w/ the river. Grand Forks and Wahpeton received state and federal funds to build the infrastructure to prevent the disaster from happening again.
Fargo has repeatedly gone to the state and the feds for funds for permanent flood protection, but have received only very small allocations which won't go very far when we're talking about a $160 million. Now, rural residents south of Fargo have been very oppositional to any project as well which has created close to 12 years' worth of delays.
Mayor Walaker put it that Fargo seems to be penalized for its succes in '97, while other regions have been rewarded.
One point of view out of several I'm sure.

[c0ldfuse]

Originally Posted by Kerby W-R

I'll keep everyone there in my prayers and I wish you all the best.
One question...
After the '97 flood why haven't they put any dams along the river to prevent flooding ?
Wishing you all safety and wellness.

The short answer, as stated above is the first flood didn't destroy enough. Really.

I sandbagged while I was in town this weekend for ~15 hours. I'm sick now from it but the doctor gave me a bottle of codeine so I'm .