It’s now three weeks since Sandbag Central in Fargo, ND opened for business with the goal of filling three million sandbags in preparation for the 2011 flood which will inundate the Red River Valley from the South Dakota/North Dakota border north to the Canadian border. 

The Red River of the North is a north-flowing river that cuts through the scenic landscape of grain and dairy farms, a vast agricultural plain that once formed the equally vast Lake Agassiz millenia ago.  Lake Agassiz left a flat, flat, flat bed when it retreated.  That flat lakebed guarantees that, no matter what engineers, hydrologists or the Army Corps of Engineers do, when the water rises in this valley, it goes out.  It doesn’t exactly flow.  It just “goes.”  Hydrologists tell us that water is always looking for a downward-sloping gradient by which it can “flow lower.”  In this valley there is no such gradient. 

It’s flat.  It’s level.   I’ve suggested at times (no takers yet) that if a person’s cheeks were strong enough, they could stand on the east edge of this flat land and spit to Billings, Montana about 700 miles to the west.  The flat starts about two miles west of where we live.  We are right on the edge of what is referred to as Minnesota Lakes Country.  East of us, it’s rolling farmland leading to the beaches of those lakes, the first of them less than ten miles away.

So the floods don’t flow. They can’t.  Once they leave the river bed, they cover thousands of square miles. Water resulting from snowmelt from all of those thousands of square miles can’t “flow to the river” and leave the area, because river levels are higher than the water level in the fields 35 miles from the river. So the water sits there.  Two weeks.  Three weeks.  However long it takes for it to soak in to already completely saturated soil, that rich soil of the famed Red River Valley.  This is why in flood years (1997, 2009, 2010, now 2011~~four just in the last 15) farmers don’t necessarily have to worry about “getting the crops in the ground.”  If the fields are still four inches deep in water in mid-May, you’re not going to be planting crops, because anything planted later than that isn’t going to have time to ripen before the first fall frost, which can come by mid-September.

Last fall, the water table throughout this entire region was as high as it ever gets.  It never dropped during the summer as it “should.”  Last fall, the rivers were running full to their banks when freezeup came.  They never dropped during the summer months as they “should.”  We have had very high levels of snow throughout the entire region.  The drifts in our trees are about 9 feet deep.  Snow is expected t0night.  Hydrologists have estimated that the water content in the snow over the entire region (from here up to Canada) is the equivalent of 4 inches of rain.  So when the snow does melt, it will be as though a massive rainstorm covering portions of three states dropped 4″ of water simultaneously on the entire area.  And there is nowhere for the water to go.  It won’t run off.  Because the land is flat.  It can’t soak in.  The land is saturated.

Farmers will soon have start the sandbagging of the perimeters of their farms, trying to save their houses (again) and hoping to create conditions for the weeks of calving that will see the fewest possible calves birthed into water that drowns them.  Those farmers also do set their alarm clocks for every two hours, to prevent such birth-drownings.  They have their fishing boats tuned up and ready to run by the end of March because once the thaw starts, it is to be expected that hundreds of farm families will have no way out for groceries or supplies except by taking the boat to the car, which will be parked 2-7 miles away, depending on where the nearest unflooded road is.

The counties where each of them live will be doing everything they can to help.  And by “counties” I specifically reference the residents of the counties, who take guidance from the county officials who know their people, have the maps ready and can give practical information on “what’s happening today.”  Two days ago , Cass County in eastern North Dakota began filling sandbags.  This is to be distinguished from the three million bags needed in Fargo.  Cass County is preparing their fight for the farms and small towns and they need three million just for that.  I expect they’ll get them, because schools are already scheduling closures so the student bodies can sandbag in These Days Before The Water Comes.  Clay County, on the Minnesota side, say they’ll be preparing 331,000 sandbags as well.

This past Monday, three large buses came to Fargo from Duluth and Brainerd in northern Minnesota, driving 5 hours each way.  The buses were filled with medical personnel from one of the regional medical centers which also has a center in Fargo.  They came at daybreak and spent the day at Fargo Sandbag Central, to help their fellow employees whose homes will be under threat in a couple of weeks.  Other buses have already come from the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, loaded with college students ready to fill sandbags. 

Four days ago, I saw video footage of the elderly from one of the many nursing homes in Fargo getting off their bus at Sandbag Central.  They came with their arms full of brownies and cookies and muffins that they had been baking in their apartment kitchens.  They spent the afternoon serving coffee and goodies to the volunteers.

Last week, one crew of volunteers that showed up were wearing the T-shirts they had had printed for their day of sandbagging: Top Ten Reasons That Sandbag Central is the Place To Be.  Other themes (so far) this year include the battle cry: “Baggin’ The Red!”

Two days ago, Moorhead’s Sandbag Factory (on the Minnesota side of the river ) opened.  They need more than two million.  Moorhead is a smaller city in terms of square miles and population, but a significant regional center that needs protection, and it’s provided by volunteers, directed by trusted and tested community leaders.

Every day, from 8am to 8pm, shuttle buses are running and have been for weeks.  There are a couple of major pickup points where folks can hop the bus and go check in for as many hours of work as they have to give.  Free goodies, sandwiches,  drinks, etc.  are provided all day long and will be for the duration.

As of yesterday, Fargo’s Sandbag Central had logged more than 10,000 individuals through for volunteer services and they have completed the bagging of the two-millionth bag: it WAS marked.   This past Saturday, they had 260 people there for most of the day. They expect to have the third million finished this week.

The Hesco Barriers, a fantastic solid wall/celled tall-and-wide container that can hold sand dumped in by frontloaders, are being taken to staging areas.  First used in Afghanistan for base security, these things are huge.  Once in place and filled with sand, they become an impermeable barrier that is very strong.  They can’t totally replace sandbags, but they are a huge labor-saver in certain areas.

Communities across North Dakota have already been involved in planning meetings as to where the thousands of elderly from the Fargo nursing homes will be taken, if the waters are as high as they were in 2009 when  the utilities of those facilities were threatened,  making it necessary to move everyone out.  At this point, they are expecting waters to go 24 feet above flood stage.

Downtown Fargo has not gone under in these last three floods.  In 1997, despite a heroic fight, downtown Grand Forks was lost; first to flood, then to fire. 

The hospitals are prepared with plans for employees to sleep over, because they have learned from experience that travel on through-streets needs to be restricted once the water is high and raging through town.   Sandbag reinforcement continues at an intense level for up to a week or ten days after the water reaches flood stage. In addition, as it reaches flood stage and continues rising, the water is ice cold, air temperatures may be below 20 degrees (daytime) and there may well be chunks and sheets of ice floating in the water. When 15 foot sandbag walls have water raging past them on the other side at a depth of 12 feet (that is, 12 feet high against the sand bag wall) there IS wear and tear.

Because of that intensity, and the need for the trucks hauling the sandbags to MOVE when there’s a potential breach, no traffic except emergency vehicles and trucks are allowed during the overnight hours, to allow the sandbag truck convoys can move at 50-55 miles an hour through the city streets with absolutely no hindrance. 

It’s enough to make me cry.  The intensity.  The courage.  The hard, hard work.  The exhaustion.  The calmness.  The determination. The absolute refusal to let any nonsense or ineffective crap get in the way of what they are doing. 

 

These Americans are amazing.  This isn’t half the story.  This is just my as-well-informed-as-I-can-make-it narrative of what is happening from the SD/ND border to the ND/Canada border right now.  It’s been happening for three weeks.  It won’t be over for several more weeks. 

I’ll post updates as the flood unfolds and flows out~~looking for lower elevations that simply are not there.