Sunday, March 22, 2009

how's it going to be

my city is under seige.

i told this to a friend the other day and she thought i meant by terrorists. no, there are no fanatical groups out to get fargo, just one major enemy: mother nature. the red river of the north, one of the few rivers in the world that flows north, is expected to massively and unforgivinly flood its banks and attempt to ravage our city. combined with other rivers and the topography (or lack of one - its incredibly flat around here), the whole state of north dakota is in danger. ironically, i chronicled my experience here with the last "100 years flood" in 1997 a few months ago. at the time, experts were saying there was no way we would flood again this year because the snow didn't have enough moisture in it. circumstances change. now we are receiving national coverage, calling for thousands of volunteers, getting the attention of president obama, moving things to the upper levels of houses, registering for code red alerts, breaking backs heaving sandbags, canceling schools and closing businesses, catching few hours of sleep and many other things that we would not have imagined a week ago. in the next few days, i will detail my experience with the flood of 2009. wish the city of fargo and the surrounding areas luck. it's going to be a long week.

7 comments:

  1. After you flood and your city is destroyed, you will finally be able to look your Grand Forks brothers in the eye. As equals.

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  2. better go get you a boat....I dont want you out hitch hiking boat rides from strangers

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  3. I hope that if our city floods and is destroyed, NO ONE -- ANYWHERE will become our equal.

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  4. It's comments like that (from Kevin) that confirms what everyone already knows...our Grand Forks "brothers" are envious, foolish and jealous of Fargo. Fargo is fighting for it's life right now and you make a comment like that?

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  5. Several cities in the Dakotas (both the Southern and Northern wastelands) were listed in the Forbe's list of 'Best Places to do Business'...interesting, they must have overlooked the massive flooding, interolerable cold, and lack of scenery. The only thing I could think of was that author of the article was born in Iowa and daytripped to NDSU for a football game or something. Iowa would make ANYWHERE look like Shangrila.

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  6. Since I can only think of one Kevin from GF that Danielle and I both know, I can only assume that you are he. Glad to see that time hasn't changed you. Also given the Erdmann's genetic predisposition to height the only way they'll look you in the eyes is if they kneel, I mean that literally but it works figuratively as well. Also I can only assume the guy from Iowa is not a world traveler. Anyway, interesting fact the last three significant floods of the Red River all resulted with sitting Democratic presidents. (2009, 1997, 1979) So I guess it really is the Red River.

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  7. subject: how's it going to be is by third eye blind. i saw them in concert back in the day in boston.

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