Winter Storm Latest Test for Fargo's Levees
By DAVE KOLPACK and NATE JENKINS, Associated Press Writers – 57 mins ago
FARGO, N.D. – A blizzard battered North Dakota on Monday, threatening to create wind-whipped waves that could lash the patchwork levee system that has shielded much of Fargo from the swollen Red River. Engineers scrambled to shore up the dikes in hopes of averting the latest potential disaster nature has inflicted on this beleaguered city.
The winter storm was expected to bring up to a foot of snow and 30 mph winds that could weaken the levees with big waves. Officials acknowledged that no one knows whether the levees will withstand the punishment.
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But forecasters have warned all along that the river could still rise again. They believe the river could drop 2 more feet in the coming days before inching upward again.
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Corps engineer Tim Bertschi said when water pressure gets strong enough, the sandbags can begin to shift, a weakness that surging water will quickly exploit.
Another potential problem is posed by large chunks of ice in the river's currents. When those chunks hit a levee, they can speed its erosion or punch holes in the plastic sheeting. Once water gets in, a levee becomes much more susceptible to failure.
"Anything you are going to build, you've got to suspect it's going to fail at one time or another," said Bill Buckler, an associate professor of geography at Youngstown State University in Ohio.
National Guardsmen Brandon Nelson and Cody Renner shuffled along a Fargo dike just south of downtown on Monday, headed toward their assignment for the day: Monitor a small crack in an earthen dike. Should the crack in the dike go unmonitored and widen significantly, it could put the heart of Fargo at risk of flooding.
So they checked the crack every 15 minutes, measuring its depth and prepared to notify the Army Corps of Engineers if it grew. Corps officials stood at the ready in a nearby parking lot.
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Fargo's massive sandbagging began winding down after an around-the-clock volunteer effort. Fargo filled 3.5 million sandbags, and has an inventory of 450,000.
Officials in Fargo and Moorhead say they have limited the damage to a small number of homes within Fargo's city limits, but they have had to rescue about 300 people by boat, and several outlying rural areas have seen significant flooding.
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Full article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090330/...dwest_flooding
Kim Holland and her daughter Trinity, 7, look at an ice formation on a tree that indicates the height of floodwaters after the Red River receded in Oxbow, south of Fargo, North Dakota, March 29, 2009. A dike holding back the swollen Red River failed early on Sunday and swamped a school in Fargo, North Dakota, but a backup dike contained the spill as cold weather favored flood fighting and evacuation efforts. REUTERS/Eric Miller (UNITED STATES)
Black hawk helicopter bringing in huge sand bag.
U.S. Army National Guard soldiers launch a large sheet of plastic with sandbag weights over the side of an earthen dike on the southside of Fargo, North Dakota March 30, 2009. Engineers hope the plastic barrier will help prevent erosion to the dike as snow followed by high winds and blizzard conditions enter the region. REUTERS/Allen Fredrickson (UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENT DISASTER)
Snow begins to fall in downtown Fargo, North Dakota. A massive blizzard bore down on flood-ravaged North Dakota Monday as officials struggled to shore-up levees against potential erosion from high, powerful waves and swift moving waters. (AFP/Getty Images/Daniel Barry)
An aerial view shows farm equipment and vehicles parked near a farm that is surrounded by flood waters south of Fargo, North Dakota March 29, 2009. A dike holding back the swollen Red River failed early on Sunday and swamped a school in Fargo, North Dakota, but a backup dike contained the spill as cold weather favored flood fighting and evacuation efforts. REUTERS/Allen Fredrickson (UNITED STATES DISASTER ENVIRONMENT)
THIS ONES FOR YOU ALYSCAT!!!
A cat looks out of its cage at an improvised animal shelter for pets displaced because of flooding in the area Sunday, March 29, 2009, in West Fargo, N.D. About 200 animals have been brought to the site at the Red River Valley Fairgrounds, including about 150 dogs and cats and at least 37 horses. The site also is the new home to a goat, mule, donkey and two potbellied pigs. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)