The Air National Guard is accustomed to piloting Predator drone airplanes, but not over Fargo.
The surveillance aircraft — which has gotten a lot of use in Afghanistan and Iraq — has come in handy in fighting the flood, a fight that has seen its share of high-tech innovations.
“We have an amazing amount of technology to [...]
Archive for March, 2009
Predators and sandbag bombs help Fargo flood fight
Posted in Flood, tagged Fargo, Flood, Gazette, GazetteOnline, Predator on March 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Fargo leaders call for new levee system
Posted in Cedar Rapids City Council, Flood, tagged Cedar Rapids, Fargo, Flood, Gazette, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on March 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Though the historic flood only began to recede in Fargo on Saturday, the mayor and city commission are already pushing for a federally-funded permanent flood protection system.
Though the titanic citywide effort to hold back the Red River was largely successfuly, “You wouldn’t want to do this every year,” Fargo Deputy Mayor Tim Mahoney said Sunday [...]
Fargo mayor steps to the plate
Posted in Cedar Rapids City Council, Flood, tagged Cedar Rapids, Flood, Fargo, GazetteOnline, Gazette, Dennis Walaker, Kay Halloran, Mayor, Brian Fagan on March 29, 2009 | 1 Comment »
FARGO, N.D. — With his towering 6-foot-5 frame, steady calm and wise-cracks, Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker is the face of North Dakota’s flood fight.
Each morning at 8 a.m., he leads an open-to-the-public meeting where city, state and non-profit officials tell each other and residents — on live television — exactly how high the Red River [...]
River dropping — maybe — in Fargo
Posted in Flood, tagged Fargo, Flood, Greg Gust, Moorhead, National Weather Service, Red River on March 28, 2009 | 1 Comment »
The Red River may have crested at 40.85 feet, an all-time record, in Fargo early this morning.
But Greg Gust (yes, that’s right) of the National Weather Service said don’t get too excited yet.
“We’re going to be sitting here (at this level) at Fargo-Moorhead for another week,” he said.
He also pointed out that lots of [...]
Marion chopper pilot on site in Fargo
Posted in Cedar Rapids City Council, Flood, tagged Cedar Rapids, Flood, Gazette, Jonathan D. Woods, Marion, Moorhead, Perry Walton on March 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Perry Walton boomeranged his chopper in for a landing Saturday morning over the flat, white fields east of Moorhead, Minn, fresh off his seventh mission flying over the swollen Red River.
The Marion resident who spent 25 years as a Cedar Rapids police officer has been taking reporters over the valley since Thursday, when he left [...]
Fargo-Moorhead struggling with HESCOs and tiger dams
Posted in Cedar Rapids City Council, Flood, tagged Cedar Rapids, Fargo, Flood, Gazette on March 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The flood protection devices Cedar Rapids plans to use in the years before a levee system is built are being tested in Fargo and Moorhead, and getting mixed reviews.
HESCO barriers make up 10 miles of the 35 to 40 miles of dikes in Fargo. They are interlocking wire and burlap baskets filled with sand from [...]
Night time dike patrol in south Fargo
Posted in Flood, tagged Fargo, Flood, Gazette, Jonathan D. Woods on March 28, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Jon and I spent the evening with Neil Litton, an old friend of WMT’s Bob Bruce who showed us around on Thursday afternoon.
Litton and his family live 500 feet from a creek bed called Drain 27. In normal times, it joins Rose Creek a little further east and flows into the Red River a little [...]
Eastern Iowans helping out in Fargo
Posted in Flood, tagged Cedar Rapids, Flood, Marion, Fargo, GazetteOnline, Gazette, Moorhead, Vinton on March 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I’ve talked to three people with Eastern Iowa ties in the last few minutes, all in Fargo-Moorhead to help the city respond to the flood.
Barb Pitt is here with a group of Red Cross volunteers — five from Cedar Rapids and two from Waterloo. They’re handing out meals to workers, working long days and planning [...]
Downtown Moorhead deserted but for onlookers
Posted in Flood, tagged Flood, Fargo, Jonathan D. Woods, GazetteOnline, Gazette, Moorhead on March 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
We drove to the top of a parking ramp overlooking the Red River from the Minnesota side, in Moorhead, population 32,000.
The river is touching the bottom of all the bridges to Fargo, and the water is swirling through bottom floor of the parking ramp. The metal steps to the ground disappear into the water.
A guy [...]
C.R. gives key advice to evacuated Fargo hospital
Posted in Flood, tagged Cedar Rapids, Flood, Grand Forks, Fargo, GazetteOnline, Gazette, Mercy Medical Center on March 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
MeritCare Hospital, which is about five blocks from the Red River in Fargo, evacuated about 180 patients last night.
Bruce Pitts, the hospital’s executive vice-president of clinical services, said he consulted officials at Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids and received key advice on how to evacuate the patients.
Mercy was forced to evacuate all its patients [...]
