what a Flood, in 09

Well where do i even start. To tell you the truth i had never been in a flood until this one. it all started when i came back from my spring break. see i went ahead at the beginning of the mouth and took all of my time off so i would get to go home for the whole spring break and well when i came back something was going on that i had never had to deal with before, a flood. it started off that Monday with me going to school and starting class at nine in the morning. there was a lot of talk going around at the beginning of class saying that there may be a chance that there may be no more school for the rest of the day, for they need as much help as they could get with some sandbaggers. well i didnt know it was going to happen but the rumors where true, for after i was finshed with that first class they stopped the school and told us to go out and to start to sand bag so i did like a good citizen i am.
I started that after noon of working at some house on the south side that was going to be blocked off from the whole city, from what i understood this house was going to be bought out after the 1997 flood but fargo township did not have the money to do it at the time. well to sum it up they built a big dike right down the road, blocking this man's home off from the rest. so we spent that whole day just filling sand bags and making a very big dike - it was 42 feet up from the river. we were not too sure how high to build it up but from the looks of things that was not the right height.
i sand bag around for a few days and then that weekend i ended up having to leave from fargo to go with the old peoples home that i work at to make sure that they where are safe and had all of the things they need. and then after that i went home for a few days and then returned back to fargo the following monday to go back to school.

Coming from your one and only blogger boys last mesgge of the year - have a good one everyone.!!!!!!!!!!! :)

The lovely Flood of 09

I spent the flood time helping sandbag a little, seeing I am pregnant I couldn't do much. Since I couldn't help sandbag my family and I bought thirty pizzas a day over the first weekend to the Fargo Dome for the volunteers. It was funny, as soon as we unloaded the pizzas a line formed behind us as we brought them to the designated area. Within 5 minutes the pizza was gone. My neighborhood also did alot of sandbagging so we made food and bars and walked down our street handing it out. When the water started getting pretty high and it turned into a war zone by my house I sent my kids down to my dad's in Perham, three days later I followed. We spent about five days there before we came back home. My dad really enjoyed spending time with all of us, as did we. The flood may have been awful and devastating but alot of compassion and good was shown through it. It was amazing to see strangers coming together to help fight for our city and homes. People from all around, even other states, came to help us out in our time of need. It is nice to be reminded that there is still compassion and kindness in people.

just wanted to say....i loooove reading everyones blogs! i wish we did more...not even for a grade. claudia u poor thing! yeah i got sick too cept i was the last my sisters had ruptured ear drums and strep and my mom had a cold...it was a good exuse to go out...but it bit me in the ass later and when i got up here i missed class cuz i was sick from them. but im glad you are all well!

and everyone else...why would u live up here?!?! horrible winters and floods...your nuts! :) yup im too much of a city girl there arent really floods there...

Da floooood!

Well, i dont know about you guys but how much i loved not being in school i thought it really sucked at the same time. It really touched my heart to see and how all the voluteers come out and help and support everyone in need. It made me feel really good about our country. Even though we hear about all the bad shit that happens and all the bad people in this world, times like the flood and the flooding still going on, and people STILL helping, makes me be happy to say im an American. I really wish had millions of dollars to help out with some of the damage. More or less the families in need. But i dont, and i wish i did. i wish i had all the time in the world and money to help give back a ton. I can volunteer, but that doesn't seem like enough. However, how much the flood sucked, yes it was a nice break and pressure of school was deffinetly lightened. Have a great weekend everyone!
-gini

Extra Credit Blog

During the flood time I went thru a lot of things. Some were good, some were bad, and some were the craziest things I have ever done in my whole life. The bad things are that in my family we all got sick at the same time. I was the first one to get sick for the whole week, but I still decided to come help with the sandbagging because they really needed the help and because my Anatomy teacher was giving extra points for doing this. Good thing I didn't get worse because that day it was kind of raining and cold. Then all of my three kids got sick at the same time with strep throat, fever, running nose, and cough. On top of that, I got evacuated from my apartment because I leave very close to the river. My husband was not in town, so I had to do everything by myself. I got some valuables out of the apartment and took them to a garage I rent and which was not at risk for the flood. I have never experience this before, so I got scared and decided to go to Texas with my family. This was so crazy because I had to drive for 30hrs and I only spend the weekend there and came back. The flood screwed up things, in my Anatomy class I went from a "B" to a "C". We now have to cover so much stuff in the time remaining that is making me all stressed.Anyways, the sandbagging experience was good, but I didn't enjoyed the break from school at all.

Deja Vu

I was only twelve the last time their was a major flood to hit the valley. It was the flood of ninety- seven and at that time I was living in my home town of East Grand Forks, MN. The only difference is the flooding that year in Grand Forks/East Grand Forks was much worse. I don't mean to sound unsympathetic, because I understand the magnitude of the devastation that has occurred here in the F-M area. It's just that in my opinion this event wasn't as grave as everyone made it out to be. I mean the support given to the two communities was amazing, and the quick action taken by both cities along with the state and federal levels of government without a doubt saved the cities from mass devastation. In ninety-seven we didn't exactly get the level of support we saw here in Fargo/Moorhead. For example, that year we were told for weeks that the river would crest at forty-nine feet. A crest level the National Weather Service stood firmly behind until whoops, it rose another five feet to make the final crest level fifty-four feet. A level that flooded ALL but SEVEN homes within city limits of East Grand Forks. The unforeseen crest level mixed with numerous dyke failures combined for the worst flood in centuries. The evacuation was city wide in both GF/EGF, and it was good luck if you found a house that didn't experience sewage backup. My main point for this blog is that, I never once was terribly concerned that Fargo/Moorhead was in any eminent danger. Because, the preparation I saw here was non-existent in GF/EGF, and I knew these cities would be victorious over the Red. So what did I do during this recent flood? Helped sandbag and enjoyed the extended break from school.

Hello H2O!

I honestly have never seen anything like it, except for Lake Sakakawea! Yes I am referring to the River water that scattered across our land. Moving to Fargo wasn't the most exciting thing, but it beat where I was before. Then all of a sudden there was water! I honestly had no idea there was even a thought of a flood coming until a few days before the crest of the river. Shows how much I watch T.V. Anyways, there we were, me, my boyfriend, and his uncle. We were taking a little drive through close by neighborhoods. I had never seen so much white in my life, not from snow. There were so many sandbags, and they were EVERYWHERE! These sandbags outnumbered the people in the Fargo-Moorhead area, by a lot. I was just in awe watching all of these random people helping the houses along the river. Working day, night, evening, all the time. They had a lot of work to get done in a very little amount of time. This is why everyone pulled together to get this done, and that they did. After seeing all of this, I wanted to help. I helped out by going to the huge Fargodome, wehre i had never been before, and filled sandbags. There were a numerous amount of people there, but it wasn't too crowded just yet. I was sitting on a bucket holding open the bag while my aunt shoveled in sand from the pile. All of a sudden we started getting pushed out of our spot. People were starting to accumulate by the minute. After a while we just got sick of it and decided to leave. We did what we could and that's all we could do. I felt better about myself knowing I maybe helped to save someones house. Then the next day I thought long and hard and decided to go help in a sandbagging line. I was worried becuase i'm not suppose to lift a lot, but I didn't strain myself so I was fine. Plus it was cold, so it was hard to stand outside for a long time. We also had to help break up the sandbags that day because people made the mistake of leaving them out overnight to freeze. But all in all the Flood experience was interesting. I helped as much as I could and I felt good about it.

Flood?!

Just moving up here this year and experiencing the long, harsh winter would have been just enough to push some one out of this area! Nope, then the flood came along and struck the Red River. It was scary because I had never had to experience anything like it. Granted, the last flood was in 1997.Its still a shocker for me. I actually went on Google and looked at the definition of sandbagging, because I did not even have a clue what that term entailed. Well, after doing twelve hours of it total, I got the picture. It was a long, tedious process. My body ached for a few days after. It didn't bother me much to go out and do it, because I felt as if I were doing something good, and I was. My roomate and I had went to a small neighborhood loacted right in front of the river. We knew a few college friends living there. We filled lots of sandbags and put them on four wheelers, where the sandbags would be taken to wherever needed. Then we moved a few blocks down and helped pass the sandbags through the line, leading to the bank of the river. It was muddy and messy, but alot of fun. I got to meet some new people, and just hang out with the FM area community, while supporting a good cause. I also went to the Fargo Dome and sandbagged for a while there. It was so noisy and crowded, but alot of sandbags got filled there! Then we went over to Sandbag central where it was such a small building and the smell of the large trucks exhaust, made me light headed. I shoveled there for about two hours straight, it was quite a workout! As much fun I had meeting new people, and doing something for the community, I hope I never have to fill another sandbag again! I will be happy to drive the fork-lift though! :)

The Flood

My house was not effected at all by the flood. My dad had a pump in our basement so that if any water came in it, it would go right back out again. I was very grateful for that because so many people lost a lot of valuable stuff and there were some sad stories to be told by people I had talked to. We had no sewage back up either, I was happy about that! My family members that live around here were not effected either. During the flood week I was one of the only people out of all my friends that had to work everyday. That was kind of a bummer but a good check. I worked with this little girl every day nine to five unless I couldnt get out of my house which happened twice. I only had time to go out and help sand bag two of the days. In addition, my dad and I carried up furniture and valuables from a friends basement and helped my mother move her stuff into a friends house for the time being because she lives very close to the river. I really hope that this does not happen again any time soon because the next time my family and I might not get so lucky!