Back to the dikes

Have you got another flood-relief effort in you?

On the heels of last year’s massive effort in Moorhead and Fargo, another anti-flood brigade seems highly likely, according to the National Weather Service.

Moorhead is opening its sandbagging site on Monday and is looking for volunteers (Fargo Forum – registration possibly required). The city hopes to fill 300,000 sandbags, and will provide them free this year. In past years, residents had to purchase sand and sandbags but the city changed its strategy last year — building a single dike along the Red River rather than let each homeowner decide how to fight the water. It worked.

The city is also planning on obtaining a machine to fill sandbags automatically. Last year piles of sand were dumped in the neighborhoods and volunteers and residents shoveled and hauled.

Fargo had a different plan. Wayback Machine time:

Last year (as the above link shows), I spent the flood on the Moorhead side of the river, following three families in one neighborhood. This year? We’ll see but if you live in the area and have a plan, drop me an e-mail.