Flood season is in full swing. Currently the Red River is at 38.28 ft. Flood stage is 18 ft. It is hopefully going to crest this weekend at 39.5 ft or so. If that happens it will be the third biggest flood in the past 125 years, only 1997 and 2009 were worse. My Wife’s Aunts house is on an island now. She will be staying with us for a week or so until the water goes down.
The people in this area a great though. We step up and do what it needed to protect our city, and oddly have a fun time doing it. Here are a few videos of springtime in Fargo. Maybe a spring break destination for you in the future?
So this fire was just a few a few blocks from my house a week ago. Our crappy cable company made the news on the Consumerist for charging people for their burnt up cable boxes. I don’t know why the Consumerist thought the fire was in South Fargo, MN. It was actually in south Fargo, ND, but whatever, it was a crazy big fire, and everybody pretty much hates our cable company.
I am always curious what the cost of living is like in other cities. The cost of living is relativity low in Fargo, so the pay in Fargo also tends to be lower than in other cities. CNNMoney has a nice little calculator to compare the cost of living in different cities. It’s fun to see what a comparable salary would be in other cities. Our housing costs here are relativity cheap. I searched a few cities and couldn’t find one with higher housing costs. Utilities on the other hand seem higher here than most places. Probably due to our awesome winters. (Link via Lifehacker)
Life is getting back to normal here in Fargo. The river has been dropping a foot a day now and is no threat. It is expected to rise a bit next week when it warms up and the snow starts to melt, but still should be no problem.
I got so use to watching the river levels and listening to all the press conferences about what’s going on. It almost feels weird getting back to normal. I was so busy with flood stuff, that I never got a chance to see any national news. Was the national news just as impressed with the people in this area? A lot of people worked their asses to save our city, and we did. We won. We beat the flood. I sure hope it doesn’t hurt our chances as getting permanent flood protection though. It’s going to be expensive, but fighting these floods isn’t cheap either. I am curious what the final bill for the flood fight will be. It’s going to cost $400,000 just to clean up the Fargodome.
The last two days have been hard. Fighting floods can be tough. Every muscle in my body aches. Last night was the first night this week that I got more than three hours of sleep. Many people have lost their homes, but for the most part, Fargo is doing pretty good today. The river rising has slowed, and it might have crested, but their not sure yet. It could still go up a bit if the weather warms up. The city is a mess. It’s like a war zone out there. Helicopters are patrolling the dikes, along with national guardsmen. Most of the dikes are built up high enough now. Now we just have to keep an eye on them 24/7. Sandbags are strategically placed throughout town to keep them warm and to have them ready to repair leaks as soon a possible. The river will remain high for a week or so.
Our house is pretty safe. We are five blocks or so away from the second line of dikes. I still moved most of our stuff up from the downstairs, and plugged all of our sewer drains down there, so we should be fine.
The people in this town are amazing though. Countless volunteers worked their ass off. Today they had to turn them away, because we have plenty of sandbags made up already for emergencies. At the beginning they were saying we would need 1.5 million sandbags to protect the city and they weren’t sure if we would be able to fill that many. Well, the last I heard volunteers have filled 3 million sandbags. Just amazing. Most of them were college and high school kids, but many people traveled from surrounding cities to help.
I love this city more than ever now. It truly is the people that make this city great. We are not out of it yet, but we are winning the battle. It would have been easily lost if it weren’t for the people. Everything was super organized. The city officials had great plans, and everybody in the city followed them. The two days that I was working with the volunteers not one of them complained, and some of them were on the third or fourth day of hard labor. Together we all fought to save our city, and for the most part we have. I’m not too sure if many other cities could have done what we have.
**Update** Here are some great pictures of what we have been going through.
I grew up in Minnesota where fireworks were illegal, so I have never really been into, or cared much about fireworks. The ones you can buy are usually lame and expensive, so I have never bought any. In North Dakota Fireworks are legal and have just recently started going up for sale. I just read this:
FARGO – Police here have issued a reminder to residents that it is illegal to possess, sell or use fireworks within the city limits.
WTF? So if I was to buy some fireworks to shoot off out in the country on the 4th I couldn’t bring them home? Where would I put them? I totally see not being able to sell or shoot off fireworks in town, but it’s illegal to just possess them in town too? I see how they would be illegal to possess them in Minnesota, but not in North Dakota where they are legal. So if you buy fireworks, make sure you don’t drive through town with them. I hate stupid laws that make no sense and can’t be enforced.
