Fargo residents and volunteers sandbag the city against the Red River (WHO-TV / March 28, 2009)
The massive effort to protect the Fargo area has brought volunteers to the Red River valley from across the country, including Iowa. Channel 13's Mark Tauscheck reports a small group of Iowans is right in the middle of the action.
Heavy snow and wind chills below zero isn't weather usually associated with flooding. In many places, air boats are the only means of transportation over unpredictable terrain.
"Think about the coldest Iowa cold that you could come up with, and that's how Fargo is," said Maryann Sinkler of the Central Iowa Red Cross.
Sinkler is helping prepare for the worst: water over or through the dirt and sandbag walls protecting the city.
"We're looking at a lot of evacuations up here, mandatory evacuations are beginning so we're looking at sheltering a large number of people over the next 24 to 48 hours. The first wave of people that they've asked us to prepare for is about 23,000 and we are prepared to do that," Sinkler said.
The sandbagging process is something even veteran Red Cross workers like Rick Ruble from Chariton have never seen before -- 400,000 a day, over 2.5 million this week alone.
"It's a tremendous hard working effort. You just don't see people working so hard like that unless it is an effort to really save their property there. They're invested in it 100%, it's incredible to see it," Ruble said.
Ruble is in charge of getting food to the front lines. His crews are feeding between 4- and 7,000 people every day.
"Their spirits are actually pretty good. It's one of those things where everyone thinks they might actually pull off a miracle and save their homes," Ruble says.
Ruble says convincing people to stop and eat has been difficult, but he understands their focus. He thinks if the river breaches in the Fargo area, it could be as bad or worse than Cedar Rapids last summer.
"It's kind of like rooting for the underdog. Usually nature wins all these battles and hopefully this will be a case where the community actually will succeed," Ruble said.
So far the Iowa National Guard has not been asked to respond to the Fargo-Moorhead area. However, the Guard's heavy-lift helicopters -- giant Chinook CH-47s -- may be mobilized this weekend if there are widespread evacuations.
Heavy snow and wind chills below zero isn't weather usually associated with flooding. In many places, air boats are the only means of transportation over unpredictable terrain.
"Think about the coldest Iowa cold that you could come up with, and that's how Fargo is," said Maryann Sinkler of the Central Iowa Red Cross.
Sinkler is helping prepare for the worst: water over or through the dirt and sandbag walls protecting the city.
"We're looking at a lot of evacuations up here, mandatory evacuations are beginning so we're looking at sheltering a large number of people over the next 24 to 48 hours. The first wave of people that they've asked us to prepare for is about 23,000 and we are prepared to do that," Sinkler said.
The sandbagging process is something even veteran Red Cross workers like Rick Ruble from Chariton have never seen before -- 400,000 a day, over 2.5 million this week alone.
"It's a tremendous hard working effort. You just don't see people working so hard like that unless it is an effort to really save their property there. They're invested in it 100%, it's incredible to see it," Ruble said.
Ruble is in charge of getting food to the front lines. His crews are feeding between 4- and 7,000 people every day.
"Their spirits are actually pretty good. It's one of those things where everyone thinks they might actually pull off a miracle and save their homes," Ruble says.
Ruble says convincing people to stop and eat has been difficult, but he understands their focus. He thinks if the river breaches in the Fargo area, it could be as bad or worse than Cedar Rapids last summer.
"It's kind of like rooting for the underdog. Usually nature wins all these battles and hopefully this will be a case where the community actually will succeed," Ruble said.
So far the Iowa National Guard has not been asked to respond to the Fargo-Moorhead area. However, the Guard's heavy-lift helicopters -- giant Chinook CH-47s -- may be mobilized this weekend if there are widespread evacuations.
