Fending off the Floodwaters

I just got off the phone with my mom. She is currently slicing sandwich buns and making food to feed the dozens of college kids and community volunteers who are helping build a sandbag dike in their backyard. The Red River in Fargo, ND is expected to crest at record levels this week, and with more rain and snow on the way there is no telling when this will all be over. My parents live on the river, but should be OK. However, they have several neighbors in real trouble and due to overland flooding and other water outlets, the whole city is in some degree of trouble.

This emergency reminds me of 1997, when the same thing happened and I was able to be part of the largest community-wide effort to fill and stack sand bags I had known. We worked all day and night in freezing temperatures and snow/rain. I remember people from church showing up at a moments notice to move all of the basement furniture up to the main floor. It was renewal of faith in a teenager's perception of humankind.

This year it's worse and thankfully there are more volunteers to help. People are really stepping up and helping out strangers. They are cancelling schools and universities to free up volunteers and those volunteers are filling up buses as they're transorted to local areas of need. Check out this link to see some great pictures of the volunteer effort. I have been on my parents to get some pictures of what's been going around around their neighborhood, but they've been a little busy.

Keep the area in your prayers, and hopefully the levees will hold. We lost one city in 1997 when a dike broke. Hopefully Fargo will fare better a decade later.