Water rising has caused many bridges and roads to close.
North Dakota State President Dean Bresciani has personally reached out to the student body, requesting all hands on deck for sandbagging in hopes to avoid what seems like the inevitable -— a bad flood season.
Jessica Jensen, department head of emergency management, compared Fargo’s current flooding situation to the 2009 flood that warranted school shutdowns.
She also said that since 2009, Fargo has invested in “earthen levees,” which include: raised dikes, a modified El Zagal Golf Course to hold more water, added permanent flood walls and replaced pump stations so that they can pump more water, faster.
With the measures taken since the last big flood, there is already a positive difference in how Fargo is handling the large amounts of water.
Along with the measures above, Fargo has recruited its citizens to work diligently with sandbagging. In a recent news release by the city of Fargo, there is going to be a 39-foot barrier thanks to all of the volunteer turnout.
Community outreach is critical at all times, especially when there is a possibility of crisis. “Communication with the public should be clear, consistent and repeated. It should also be tied to actions people ought to take with respect to the potential crisis,” Jensen said.
Samantha Montano, a professor at NDSU, along with many others were part of this critical community outreach — sandbagging.
Montano went out to volunteer on Friday afternoon for around two hours. From what she observed, there was a good turnout of students from NDSU and even the Fargo mayor himself was there.
Nonprofits are also meeting to assess the needs of the city and figure out how to move forward in solving the needs.
Community outreach is critical, and so is self-preparation. The city of Fargo, as well as the citizens of Fargo, are working hard to prevent the impact a flood could have.