Flood 2009: 4-10 how to...

I apologize for the goofy order of the pix and entries. I am using Picasa3 to upload to the blog. I guess I need to reverse the order that I create the entries, when I have several pix to share. Picasa only does 4 pix at a time, so I usually have to create several different entries. The result is that #5 is the first entry, not #1.

So, to read this set correctly, please go to

Flood 2009: 4-10

first, them #1, #2, etc.
Sorry about that... will do better next time.

Flood 2009: 4-10 #5

So this is Dike West, looking ESE. This is the back side of the dike shots taken from the bridge in Flood 2009: 4-10 #4

Still Dike West.

We had some fun sledding here, last winter...

Yes, there really is a road under that dike. This is the intersection of 4th Street S. and 13th Ave. Looking S. The large building on the right is the water treatment plant. This is close to where the official gauge that measures the river is located.

Flood 2009: 4-10 #4

At the SW corner of Lindenwood Park. Hescos are about 5 ft high here.

Here's a closer look at the sand backing up the Hescos. Looking East toward the river here.

This is on the South side of the Main Avenue Bridge, looking East across the river. I thought the police tape was sort of amusing. Don't think I'd want to cross it, though.

Same spot as above, just looking SW, toward the YMCA.

Flood 2009: 4-10 #3

Another fuzzy picture, but it gives an idea of the scale of the dikes, and the impact on the neighborhood.

Here's the dike make of Hesco's. Note that the Hescos are backed up with additional sand.

Here's a shot near the Fargo Country Club. Looking East down the road here.

Now heading North. The bridge is the I-94 overpass on 5th Street south.

Flood 2009: 4-10 #2

Nice to have a bridge to use, instead of climbing through clay.

Sorry for the fuzzy picture. I think you get the idea anyway...

Note the cut in the dike to allow room for the pump.

Still on River Drive, working North.

This is about 3/4 of a mile of dike, so far.

Flood 2009: 4-10

Took the camera along on a long run. Decided to snap a few shots along the way. We start heading North on River Drive.

First of several pix of River Drive, east of our house.

A bit farther down the road...

Sandbags in reserve in the cul de sac.

Close up of the clay dike. Its about 7 feet high at this point.

Flood 2009:3-31

The rest of the family came home last night. We thought we could be more productive on a storm day if we were all at home. Mary, Ryan, and Bungee came home after having dinner with Chet & Betty.
Driving home was challenging, since the roads were covered with a combination of snow, ice, and mud. Mary went for a walk with Bungee after they got home. She said it was still hard to comprehend the magnitude of the borrow pits at the schools. You can't get too close to the site, for safety reasons of course. I suspect there may be a few extra days off for the Discovery / Centennial students, so that the school can be made safe for both students and drivers. The extra snow event today will certainly slow down the process of securing the school grounds. Maybe they'll be able to work over the weekend, but i'm sure everyone is already well into overtime hours.

No pix for this post. Just a link to a site that tracks the river level:
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=fgf&gage=fgon8&view=1,1,1,1,1,1

I am guessing the top of our foundation is about 38.75 feet. Any river level below that, and we should be safe. There's always the prospect of storm / sanitary sewer backup, but everything I've heard during the city's meetings leads me to think we're ok in that regard.

We're not in a big rush to but everything back just yet. Mary has done a bit of touch up painting, and we're looking at doing some carpet cleaning, as long as the furniture is all moved out. I guess we get a jump start on the spring cleaning this year.

More when we have something new to add.

Flood 2009 3-29 Sandbagging in the Dome

I went to the Fargodome on Sunday night. I ended up spending about 5 hours making sandbags.

I took a break and shot these three pictures.

Not as much equipment for making bags, but still an impressive inventory.

All these bags were filled by hand, with shovels.

Flood 2009 3-29 #4

Flood 2009 3-29 #3

Chopper over the borrow pit again. Looking SW here.

Sidewalk on the North side of 40th Ave., looking West.

Truck dumping a load of clay. Looking SW here.

I counted 6 backhoes working in the pit. There may have been more below grade. There were also several bulldozers below grade.

Flood 2009: 3-29 #2

Looking South, from the top of the bike path tunnel.

Blackhawk over Centennial

The chopper circled the borrow pit / soccer field a couple of times. I assume there was some dignitary on board, checking things out.

Flood 2009: 3-29 #1

Looking SE, at 18th St. and 39th Ave. This is part of the Discovery borrow pit.

Lookin SE, this time at the intersection of University and 40th Ave.

Another shot, panning to the left.

Bike path at University and 40th, looking South.

Neighborhood map

Here is a look at the neighborhood. The lines show the approximate location of the various dikes. Red lines are sandbags, while yellow is clay diking. This is only a small portion of the dikes near our house.

28 March - Southside

Mary and Ryan built a snowman with a good attitude. Good for people, but maybe not so good for snowmen...

Looking NW near Centennial Elementary. This is just south of 40th Ave. of 25th street. Notice the National Guard communications vehicle in the foreground. The long dark object in the background is a row of clay excavated from the schoolyard. The next few pictures show where the clay will end up...

Now we're looking South, from the same location on 25th St.

Here is the exit stoplight at Centennial. This is also the west entrance to Rose Creek. This is the 'contingency' dike protecting us from the south.

Looking North, through the opening of the contingency dike. Should there be a breach in the primary sandbag dike, this opening would be dozed closed.


West entrance to Rose Creek. I particularly liked the ominous sign. As a reference, the clay dike is somewhere between 7 and 8 feet high.
I little farther into the Rose Creek loop. This shot is looking West. Note the equipment working on top of the dike.
After exiting the Rose Creek loop, i walked West. Here is the Discovery School yard being used as a borrow pit. The next few pictures show the same area, but from different angles. I couldn't get very close, because the site was active. It's also tough to get a sense of scale. There were several pieces of equipment inside the pit, well below grade.