A flood in which hasn't happened in 112 years

[Nappa]

As of today the crests in the Red River had reached 41.2 feet (roughly 12.5 meters) a feat which as not been met since 1897. Sandbagging efforts have been enormous, at least 20,000 (of the 90,599 approximate total of citizens in the city) volunteers have taken the call. The city has created evacuation contingency plans for the whole city.The police have started letting inmates sandbag to reduce their sentences or fines, they have also started arresting people inhibiting the work effort. The current weather conditions: 18 degrees Fahrenheit (0 Celsius?) 2 °F windchill. It recently snowed and schools have been canceled. Many of my friends are getting ready to evacuate.

Some news stories:
Cracks in levee forces evacuations in Fargo, ND
Local Newspaper - main page as flood updates


Slideshow

[Joe Gress]

Aw man. Stay safe to all you Fargo guys and gals up there.


The sad part is that in three months, it will be dryer than the desert up there again.

[machine gewehr]

Oh adventure.

j\k stay safe man.

[sandmangeck]

that's crazy. stay safe

[T-Bird]

Hi.

Stay safe.

Living here up in north we have our share of floods every spring, every fall.

Unfortunately most of the time it's because of the power companies can not build large enough artificial lakes/reservoirs, whatever they're called in various parts of the world. That causes bottle-necks, which in turn causes ice dams, which causes floods.

The peoples desire to build near to water don't help one bit. Now don't get me wrong, I'd like to live near a lake/river too, but the downsides are just too great.

Like said, stay safe and hopefully this won't affect You and your loved ones too much.

Regards
Sam

[XtreO]

Awesome You can drive a boat between the trees. I've never done that. I'd be awesome.

[txbasschik]

Originally Posted by XtreO

Awesome You can drive a boat between the trees. I've never done that. I'd be awesome.

Errrmmmm...not so much on the "awesome". Its actually pretty nasty. There's debris and trash and oil and all kinds of junk in floodwater. It is definitely not clean. Here in the South, floods stir up all the snakes, so you have to watch out for cottonmouths, which will come right up in the boat with you, and bite you. They're aggressive. And highly poisonous.

Boating in flood is, well...gross. When our local lakes are in flood stage, they close all the boat docks. There are dangerous currents, and huge dead trees just under the surface, waiting to rip your hull open. Debris, pollution, bacteria from flooded septic systems, and dead animals floating in the water. Last time we had a big flood, there were pets, livestock, and wild animals, drowned in the lake. Makes for real nasty boating, sug.

Let's go bass fishin' instead! We can go up into some swampy areas and boat between the trees in normal water, and we can have tasty bass, bluegill, and catfish to eat when we're done!

Cherie

[txbasschik]

Y'all keep safe!!! I remember thinking, when I saw on the news about all the heavy snow up north this year, that y'all would be having awful floods come spring.

And here they come!

Don't stay too long...better to leave than to be stuck.

Cherie

[XtreO]

Originally Posted by txbasschik

Errrmmmm...not so much on the "awesome". Its actually pretty nasty. There's debris and trash and oil and all kinds of junk in floodwater. It is definitely not clean. Here in the South, floods stir up all the snakes, so you have to watch out for cottonmouths, which will come right up in the boat with you, and bite you. They're aggressive. And highly poisonous.

Boating in flood is, well...gross. When our local lakes are in flood stage, they close all the boat docks. There are dangerous currents, and huge dead trees just under the surface, waiting to rip your hull open. Debris, pollution, bacteria from flooded septic systems, and dead animals floating in the water. Last time we had a big flood, there were pets, livestock, and wild animals, drowned in the lake. Makes for real nasty boating, sug.

Let's go bass fishin' instead! We can go up into some swampy areas and boat between the trees in normal water, and we can have tasty bass, bluegill, and catfish to eat when we're done!

Cherie

Sounds ok too, I'm in. Where do we meet?

[CrispyDelicious]

Wait... It's warmer in Canada?!?!

Seriosuly though, that's intense. Stay safe.

[Geoff St. Germaine]

We're expecting a lot of flooding here as well. There's already some flooding on the Red River around here and a lot of sandbagging has started. I'm wondering if I'm going to be called out to help with the flood (military). Right now the cold temperatures seem to be helping a bit, but we had nearly 6 inches of snow this week, so when that melts it's going to make things worse.

[Nappa]

The river has now surpassed the highest it has been in recorded history.

[Fishheadjoe]

Material possessions can be replaced, lives cannot. To all affected by mother natures wrath, I say, be safe and use your common sense. If you fall into that water in those temps, you have virtually minutes to get out before hypothermia... do as the authorities say... you can always replace material objects... move your amp upstairs and strap your bass onto your back... harder to replace those!
Fishheadjoe

[SteveC]

We went through this 12 years ago. It sucks, but you do what you can and hope it's enough. It's not what people want to hear right now, but this to shall pass. Things can be replaced, people can't.

My family is in Fargo. So far so good for them.

Good luck to you from a Grand Forks flood survivor.

[Nappa]

!NEWS UPDATE!
River reaches record high in Fargo, region braces

[thobbinghotrod]

My uncle sent me a pic of that same house and dog. where'd you get the pics?

[Nappa]

Originally Posted by thobbinghotrod

My uncle sent me a pic of that same house and dog. where'd you get the pics?

Its part of the slideshow I linked.

[Nappa]

Public/Private schools and colleges have closed down for the rest of next week.

[iamlowsound]

Sucks man, hope you are staying safe. I have friends that live near Winnipeg, they are going to get this soon.

lowsound

[Nappa]

National Weather Service predicts a 25% chance that the 2nd crest will be around 42 feet by Friday.