In Wahpeton we were very fortunate this year as far as flooding issues. We did have a few issues and lots of overland flooding, but right in town we were well taken care of. After the last few floods, we finally received funding to help build dikes and a diversion on the Breckenridge, MN side. Our city leaders have learned a great deal over the years as far as communication and planning and this year everything seemed to work pretty smoothly.
The city asked for volunteers for filling sandbags and also helping sandbag homes. Calls for volunteers came over the radio, television and even emails through the NDSCS campus. This seemed to be very effective.
May boys and I went to Breckenridge, MN one morning and filled sandbags. I was very surprised how well organized a system they had. The operation seemed to be running very smoothly and there were plenty of bags to meet the needs of the community. The Salvation Army was also there offering lunch to workers.
We stayed on the Wahpeton side in the afternoon and sandbagged homes there. There were many calls for assistance in the surrounding communities. The city had school buses transporting volunteers to areas. Buses were taking volunteers all over the area to help reduce unneeded traffic. Also, there were many washed out roads so travelers needed to be cautious.
The dike prevented a lot of flooding this year. The Chahinkapa Zoo has a portion of the dike running through it. They had to move the animals from the one side of the dike to the other. The animals were always safe and did not have to be moved very far.
Our Chahinkapa park system was also spared by the dike. In past years, before the dikes, our park was totally flooded. Since my husband is the park superintendent, it was very nice not to have to worry too much about flooding down there. Of course, on the north side of Wahpeton where we have “The Whopper” (our big catfish) and have a campground, got flooded. We do not have a dike at that area, but damage is very minimal in that area.
It was so nice to see all the volunteers and teamwork in the Wahpeton-Breckenridge area. Early preparation and good communication played a very positive part in fighting the flood successfully.
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Wow Wahpeton sure had themselves a solid system it seems. I am going to assume that Wahpeton must have more problems with flooding than Valley City does? Or just the major ones that have affected the whole state. . . Hmmm. It seems like every town that got hit with any sort of flooding really handled themselves well. Not that much property damage, and lots of volunteers. So good to see the communities pulling together in a time like these.
ReplyDeleteIt's great that Wahpeton finally got some assistance to help fight the flood this year. It sounds like they had a plan, they followed through with it, and it worked.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how a situation like this brings so many people together. It's even more amazing how if you have great communication everyone is on the same page and so much more can get done.
It is great to see a city and its residents come together to combat a possible disaster. How appropriate is the saying “adversity brings out the best in people” and how this simple sentence could be used to describe the citizens of your town.
ReplyDeleteIt was great that your city was so organized and was able to answer the numerous calls for assistance. It was a nice touch to add the busses, less traffic means less accidents for the police to have to handle. I am sure that some of the best drivers were recruited to drive the busses so that helped with the safety of the volunteers.
It is nice to see that you and your family are doing well. Perhaps you could help someone else who is writing a report by giving them a first-hand account of how you handled the floods.