Fargo Flees as Flood Waters Top All-Time High

www.foxnews.com ^ | Friday, March 27, 2009 | Fox / AP

[Freeport]

Fargo police ordered mandatory evacuations early Friday after a breach in flood protection created a "significant leak" as the Red River topped 40 feet, breaking a record crest set in 1897.

Fargo police Capt. Tod Dahle says the evacuation was ordered shortly after 2 a.m. Friday for all homes in an area south of downtown Fargo. Officers knocked on doors and the city used a phone system to alert residents of the threat.

Authorities say there is an immediate threat of rising flood water. Residents are being told to head west. Emergency shelter is available at a high school.

The river, which flows south-to-north, rose to 40.15 feet early Friday — an all-time high — on the way to its projected crest of up to 43 feet by Saturday afternoon.

[SouthTexas]

Guess where all this water is going to go...

[CedarDave]

I know where it is not going to go — the Red River of Texas and Oklahoma!

[ponygirl]

Go to GettyImages.com and do a search for "north dakota flood." There you will see the most beautiful thing: Heartland Americans voluntarily filling and stacking sandbags to protect their community, their families, friends and neighbors. No whining. No standing around and wondering why the government isn't helping them.

Prayers to all Fargo and Bismarck folks that you come through this well... although we all know you will in the end, not matter how difficult the situation.

[SouthTexas]

Would be nice, guess it can’t turn right though. We sure could use some further south too.

[Last Dakotan]

I think most of the city will come through this OK. I just got back from sandbagging the city water works with a large group of volunteers. We added a second contingency dike up around the building. The recent cold seems to be sapping the energy from the upward rise of the river. The areas on the outside areas appear the hardest hit.

[B-Chan]

The question the media dares not answer: what is the primary difference between Fargo and New Orleans?

[Sundog]

It’s kind of hard to haul beer through lakes that have 2” of ice on them.

[StayAt HomeMother]

A link from the FOX 9 site says in part, “About 60 patients evacuated from MeritCare hospital in Fargo arrived at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis around 3 a.m. early Friday morning, accompanied by nurses. 10 critical care, 26 surgery and four rehab patients were taken in by Abbott Northwestern. ... North Country Hospital in Bemidji, Minn., Sanford Health in Sioux Falls, S.D., and St. Alexius in Bismarck, N.D. were preparing to accept evacuated patients.”

Why are critical care patients being transported all the way to Minneapolis? Is there no space available closer? Or is this an insurance company decision?

[Last Dakotan]

The question the media dares not answer: what is the primary difference between Fargo and New Orleans?

The answer is why I live in Fargo and visit New Orleans.

[Mila]

"New Orleans residents should take note - the people of Fargo are working their asses off to save their city"

Fargo residents should take note -a hurricane is not like a river flood. Apart from securing your property, and taking care of loved ones and pets there isn't much you can do except find a place to go and go there as quickly as you can. Not as easy as you might think when the course of a hurricane can change in a matter of hours and you might find yourself smack dab in the middle of the very thing you were trying to escape.

"They are evacuating areas BEFORE the dikes give out as a precaution."

Don't form your opinions of all New Orleanians by what you saw on CNN et al in the days following the storm.

80% of the residents of the city evacuated before Katrina blew through.

"Evacuaees are not being robbed and raped"

"Volunteers are not being robbed or shot at"

Didn't happen, urban legend

They Shoot Helicopters, Don't They?

How journalists spread rumors during Katrina.

Matt Welch | December 2005

http://www.reason.com/news/show/36327.html

"The cities have clearly staged evacuation plans and is communicating effectively with residents."

We knew what to do, and we did it. See picture above.

[B-Chan]

And what is the most obvious difference between the people in your photo and those those that remained behind?

[gore_sux]

I personally know people who went down to help rebuild New Orleans and had their entire truck and trailer, which were full of tools, stolen while they were down there, so no it is not an urban legend.

And I don’t see why residents can’t start filling sandbags when storms are forming in the gulf to reinforce levees like a flood.

[Mila]

"I personally know people who went down to help rebuild New Orleans and had their entire truck and trailer, which were full of tools, stolen while they were down there, so no it is not an urban legend."

I''m sorry, when I initially read your post, I thought that you were referring to a story that was making the rounds at the time about rescue helicopters being shot at, a story that turned out to be untrue.

I am truly distressed and mortified that your friends who traveled down here, purely out of the goodness of their hearts to help in the rebuilding process, lost their valuable property. I do want to say, without equivocation, that the people of New Orleans are grateful and humbled beyond expression at the outpouring of goodwill that has come our way since Katrina. Please do not let what you see on the news and the negative stories that you hear about the recovery efforts completely color your idea of the city and it's people. Very often things are not quite as cut and dried as they might appear. The bad stories about an event are frequently magnified by the media, while the the more plentiful mundane stories of regular people picking up the pieces of their lives and moving on after a life altering event, are often overlooked and considered boring. I hope your friends know that their contribution in our time of need was/is greatly appreciated and that we say prayers of thanks for every one of them.

[21twelve]

Which town, while it was flooded had the big fire that took out several city blocks? Was that Grand Forks in 1997? I was thinking Fargo before, but now that you mention Grand Forks...

[conservativefunhouse]

Barrack Obama Doesn’t care about white people.... Kayne West (edited)