The Sheer Power of Volunteers

I just heard during the City of Fargo's daily press conference that volunteers made 500,000 sandbags yesterday alone. That's a total of 2.5 million sandbags made by volunteers in 5 and a half days. There are so many amazing stories of how this community has come together to fight the rising water, but this is one way to measure it concretely.

"Spirit Incredible"

I'm listening to radio coverage online this morning and the flooding situation in Fargo-Moorhead gets worse. Help is urgently needed and the community continues to rally around the flood fight. I'm overwhelmed just reading and listening to the stories. As of 6:15am the river was at 38.19 feet, with a projected crest of 41 feet on Saturday. As the Fargo Forum's headline declares, we are in "UNCHARTED TERRITORY."

Please read the news coverage and look at these dramatic photos.

Voluntary Spirit Thrives

I've been obsessed with reading all of the flood coverage the last few days, to the neglect of my work. Things got worse overnight as a blizzard moved into the area and 3 inches of snow have already fallen today - that's on top of the rain which fell yesterday, making most roads dangerously icey. While the universities have cancelled classes since Monday, all schools are closed today. With all the little kids home from school today, my mom thought that might actually deter people from volunteering. The city of Fargo is still calling for a massive volunteer effort today.

Volunteer stories are flooding in as well. Many people are saying what I'm thinking: It's 1997 all over again. Here's just one of those stories, which highlights my brother's favorite soccer coach.

And, of course, you can see updated photos here.

Flood Fighting Volunteers

It's 1997 all over again in the Red River Valley. The Valley, especially the "twin cities" of Fargo, ND and Moorhead, MN, are especially vulnerable to the rising Red River because:

1) the ground was already saturated from heavy fall rains, followed by,
2) heavy winter snow fall, which is only about half melted,
3) 2 days of record rainfall, and
4) an impending blizzard.

(By the way, this is my unofficial understanding of the flooding situation. For a more scientific understanding, check out the Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service.)

Not good at all. From what I'm reading, the cities are doing a good job of mobilizing volunteers to both make sandbag - some 3 million of them - and building protective ring dikes around peoples' homes. Most of the local colleges and high schools have canceled classes so that students and faculty can volunteer. Some 20,000 volunteers came out yesterday, with an additional 10,000 needed today. For an area of about 150,000 people, the local voluntary spirit is high - - and as we did in 1997 (I spent a good part of that last semester of high school sandbagging) the community will put up a good fight, and I hope that most homes will be saved. There is really no better example of what a community can do to help their neighbors in a time of crisis.

Check out photos by my cousin Dave Arntson (er, third cousin once removed, maybe?).

As I sit at my desk this Tuesday morning looking at a framed photo of the iconic Fargo Theatre, I actually miss home and wish I was there to help. Much love!