The Royce Files

The Fargo Marathon festivities concluded with a big community shindig in the Dome with free food and the Johnny Holm Band and 32 Below. My roommate and I went to check things out. The food was simple- a sandwich, chips, an ice cream treat and some soda. But who can argue with free. During the flood there was some pretty impressive food options but we're of the Midwest- this will do. I am not complaining. I didn't realize Johnny Holm was still playing but he is and serenaded us with some countrified rock. As show time neared for the play we were to attend, then the story gets interesting. We are on our way out of Fargo Dome. I ascend the stairs and who do I see coming done the stairs. No other than Mayor Dennis Walaker! I say his name and he gives me wave. My roommate can't vouch for this because he was not paying attention. The Mayor waved at me and no I did not mix him up with Dallas the mechanic. It made my evening.

Mayor Dennis Walaker said he'd get the beer. That day has come thanks to Dixie Brewery.

The Going the Distance street party at US Bank Plaza gathered approximately 1000 people to drink beer, listen to funk music. Not everyone drank the beer. I decided against it on account that I would rather drink beer with people I know. I only saw one person I knew a little from work but the rest of the crowd were strangers. I wonder how many actually did help put up dikes or sandbag? You could never tell. Still the downtown was buzzing. I expected more to turn out since the beer was free but alas not even Phil could be lured from his hovel to enjoy a brew. The mercury dropped a bit but the music was good. A real good funk band with horns and stuff.

It's not that often you get a free beer. (Err, well for me it was sort of recent see this post ) During the tramautic days of the impending giant crest, Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker spoke off handedly after making some statement about fighting the flood that he would buy the beer. Was I the only one who was listening? Even our resident beer conisseur, Phil, make no comment about that. Well, Walaker has come through on his promise thanks to the Dixie Brewing Company of New Orleans. Dixie faced its own flood in 2005 during the Katrina incident. Unfortunately the brewery was looted and has ceased brewing in New Orleans. You can read the rest on Wiki. Dixie is donating the beer -which is brewed elsewhere now. So for those of you anxious enough to go out- downtown Fargo is hosting a post flood celebration at the US Bank Plaza from 5 to 11 tonight (which is May 7.)

Waters are diminishing in the Red River Valley although Sheyenne River valleyflood watching is still on alert (and perhaps James and Maple River valleys too). The National Guard and other Federal agencies had taken the front lines following the big crests. Flood clean up has begun in earnest here in the past week. Spring clean up has been postponed until June. Upcoming celebrations for volunteers here in the 'Go include a May 17th Red Hawks game and a downtown celebration that same day. At the conclusion of the Fargo Marathon (May 9th) there will be a post flood celebration organized by Mind Over Miles - Will Over Water . 32 Below and Johnny Holm will be doing a free concert and there will be free food too! I might be able to go to a bit of it although I am due to see Mystery of Edwin Drood at the high school a few blocks away from the dome. As always, all autograph requests should be directed to my agent. Slan!

A lbeit a bit less severe, in this town it's still called a flood. The second crest forecast of last which appeared to suggest utter doom for the region was not as high as anticipated. The weather service put out an original 2nd crest at 41' or above. Mayor Dennis Walaker wasn't buying it. By his theory the 2nd crest should be around 38'. Today the crest forecast is at 35'. Dikes and sandbags are holding. A helicopter appears to be flying around the city twice daily. Outside of the Go, there is plenty more flooding happening. A few days ago Valley City, 60 miles west of here, was partially evacuated as the Sheyenne River reached a historic crest. Lisbon was also affected by the Sheyenne's growing girth. Then up in the northern tier of the state the Magic City, Minot, has a little bit of flooding . Winnipeg has declared a flood emergency. And still blame is placed on climate change although history and geography have much more to do with these events. Although...

A pparently the river is not through with Fargo and Moorhead just yet. Another record crest has been forecast for later in April. Possibly at 41'. Today the river is around 35'. I was in South Fargo on Saturday morning and it looks dirty. Drain 27 crosses 25th St and then goes out around 40th Ave S. The road along the east side of I-29 stops short of 40th Ave near Fleet Farm due to a temporary dike still in place. The former greenspaces around Centennial Elementary and Discovery Jr High are almost completely tore up. The city used these site to obtain clay for dikes

Over 3 million of these sandbags helped to fend off the rising waters of the Red River of the North. They sit here waiting to be deployed, to keep back the river, to hold firm the banks.

N ews broke today (on my watch for that matter) that Fargo resisted the FEMA recommendation to evacuate the entire city. And that was just what it was- a recommendation. Fargo ultimately made the right decision as the dikes held and a projected 43' crest was not realized. A small army of tiredless volunteers may also have made the difference. Fargo and Moorhead continue to watch the dikes diligently. Most of the community went back to work on Wednesday as the Nation Guard and various other organizations kept watch. Thankfully, schools will resume Monday. Students will return to their normal routines and hopefully so will my roommate who seemed to be glued to the computer the whole time. The occasional blog correspondent from Moorhead, Phil, is doing well. As I referred to in previous posts, he diked his entire property. It held but Phil seemed at bit upset with the sand situation in Moorhead leading up to the big crest. Apparently as waters began to rise dangerously there was hardl...

Seems odd we were just talking about birthing last night at a friend's home. In fact one of our expectant friends came over from their water surrounded Moorhead home for a meal and strawberry shortcake. Needless to say here's the piece on the unusual birth.

D espite being on a higher elevation than the rest of Fargo, this resident is prepared for the worst. In the front yard a canoe sits atop of a snow bank. Just blocks away is an emergency shelter. This is one of the only parts of Fargo that is not part of the evacuation plan. This is mostly due to the height of the land in the portion of Fargo I call Middle Fargo. Who could blame the resident? The Red is an unpredictable and wily foe.

W inter weather returned to the Fargo Moorhead area this afternoon creating a lack of visibility. No snow removal is planned to my knowledge. Its a very wet and sticky snow that could be compacted fast to make for slippery roads. I did a grocery run this afternoon and this is certainly a powerful storm. Picture to the left is at a grocery store on the corner of 13th Ave and 42nd St. The electronic sign in the distance says "Thanks Volunteers." Sandbagging re-started in Dilworth and Moorhead today shortly Fargo ceased its operations at the Fargo Dome. Travel advisories have been issued for the region plus at the Fargo city briefing it officials advised that only emergency travel should be done. Also at the afternoon meeting, the use of the Predator drone data collection was demonstrated.

You can read about the Hendrum situation here . It appears about 200 answered the call to help on Sunday. Ada-Borup students were helping this morning.

A slight haze hung over the field, but this was not pyrotechnic. No, this was fine sand particles hanging in the air inside the Fargo Dome. Since 8 AM on Sunday, Fargoans and others have rejoined their efforts to increase the city sandbag supply. People from all walks of life and numerous nations gave of their time and energy to complete the task. I joined them Sunday evening. Not wanting to expend gasoline, I biked up the street to the dome. Arriving at 5PM I found the floor of the dome to be crowded and chaotic. How on earth was I going to lend a helping hand when it seemed there were some many hands helping already. I watched and waited for a few minutes in the stands. There were other who were doing the same (or so I thought.) Finally I wafted my way to the floor and looked for a place to help. Nothing. Finally I went to the west side and began to pile empty sandbags with 2 junior high girls (or so I thought they were.) At last I spied a job. Piling the bags on the pallet. Who kne...

This IVCF blog (posting by alums of IVCF in Morris I suspect) has pictures of a group from Morris that came up to Fargo to help a friend dike entirely around his house after the city placed a dike in front of his home. There are pictures. Click here http://ummivcf.blogspot.com/2009/03/further-flooding-update.html

W ith no bathrooms and no water, a church just blocks from the Red River on Main Avenue held its regular worship service this Sunday morning as National Guard units patrolled just across the street. Most of the audio and visual equipment plus the chairs had been stowed earlier in the week as a precaution. About 2 dozen folding chairs were rounded up and the video projector was brought out. Nearly a dozen were in attendance to worship and hear interim pastor Neil Thielke share a message. 2 families in the church from Moorhead were especially hit hard by flood waters. It was good to hear that both were safe. Neil had aided one family in diking around the entire house when the City of Moorhead installed a temporary dike in front of the home. Most church members helped in the sandbagging efforts around the city in addition to evacuating one family from their home. Neil's message emphasized the need for God's grace- which he stated could be thought of as God's supply. He elabora...

A distant train waits for the go ahead to cross the bloated Red River from Fargo. To understand flooding in the Red River Valley look here Another picture of trains and a historic flood in Fargo.

I arrived downtown Saturday night to check on a building I work in and overheard from the traffic minders that in order to get to Moorhead, people need to use I-94 instead of the Main Avenue bridge. I suspect this may be only temporary but have found nothing to verify my assumption. They were only letting utility trucks and heavy equipment through and I also overheard they were increasing a dike someplace. That explains the amount of trucks with clay I witnessed drive pass. In the picture you can barely make out the National Guard and police at each intersection. I didn't want to press my luck to get a closer shot. In the picture below you can see a line of trucks with clay heading east toward the Main Ave bridge. Most major sandbagging operations have ceased but smaller sandbagging efforts continue elsewhere.

Downtown was somewhat deserted today. I saw a few pedestrians. I tried to get to my bank ATM but it was sandbagged shut. National Guard had a small convoy behind Old Broadway.