Date: Sun, 13 Apr 1997 23:57:54 -0500 From: Zach Heilig <zach@blizzard.gaffaneys.com> To: chat@freebsd.org Subject: Red River of the North update. Message-ID: <19970413235754.54566@murkwood.gaffaneys.com>
next in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
We are recovering quite nicely from the storm last weekend, those workers from
the various power cooperatives (probably close to 1000 workers total)
basically have most of the close to 10,000 broken poles and the several
hundred major power structures [mostly metal towers for high voltage lines]
replaced, and very few people are still without power.
Most of the radio stations came back Saturday, and the two that had been on
the air with generators got their main power back on Friday. There are still
at least two TV stations without any way to transmit their signal. The
tallest structure in North America (perhaps world?... it was over 2100 feet
high, 2147 feet, if I recall correctly) was toppled in the storm... It was
the transmitting tower for one of the TV stations in this area.
Now, the major concern around here is the rising water (close to 44 feet, the
tops of the dikes are between 42 and 49 feet). 49 feet is still the expected
crest sometime during April 19-21. We are ready for 50 or 51 feet of water,
just in case. The water probably won't go below flood stage [28 feet] before
sometime in early to mid May. It may not get down to "normal" at all this year
[13 feet].
The record flood in this century is 48.8 feet [1979], and the all time
recorded record is 50.?? feet [1897]. Nobody is really for sure that all the
problems with the water getting so high have been taken care of, since the
water hasn't been that high in recent times. The Emergency Operations
Officials are being extremely conservative, so there shouldn't be too many
problems.
But, as an example of what might happen: In 1979, nobody realized they should
close the valve in one of the storm sewers, so the river blew the cover off
the man-hole and sprayed several feet in the air. They fixed the problem by
taking a truck full of concrete, and dumping the concrete in the man-hole.
Due to the floods in the 1960's and 1970's, we now have a 300+ page document
that details what has to be done to protect against certain flood levels as
the water rises.
The area close to the river is just about exactly like a battle zone. There
are military checkpoint guards keeping those who don't have any business near
the dikes away.
There have been a few cases of people actually sabotaging the sandbags on top
the dikes, so the national guard that are patrolling them have their M-16's
with live ammo as a deterant [appearantly it's a pretty big deal for them to
actually carry live ammo]. One of my friends who was activated a couple weeks
ago said he wasn't sure what exactly they were supposed to do with those
M-16's [they are probably just for looks, I wouldn't want to test that
theory]. There is a $500 fine for tampering with the sandbags.
If they let civilians patrol the dikes as they have in previous years, I'll be
volunteering, and bringing my camera along to snap some pictures from the top
of the 49 foot dikes. It is really sobering when you realize the water would
currently be at roof level for two-story houses for large areas of both cities
[Greater Grand Forks and East Grand Forks] if the dikes were to break. There
are already several building completely under water [but nobody cares about
them... they are build so the water really doesn't affect them...]. I have
some pictures from last year, but they will be nothing compared to what I can
get this year.
--
Zach Heilig (zach@blizzard.gaffaneys.com) | ALL unsolicited commercial email
| is unwelcome. I avoid dealing
| with companies that email ads.
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?19970413235754.54566>