Word(s) of the Day: “Full Flood-Fighting Mode”. Fargo City Administrator Pat Zavoral was quoted in the Sunday Forum (available on the web at www.in-forum.com.)

New National Weather Service (NWS) Deterministic Forecast This Morning: MPSC President Ken Norman called me earlier this afternoon and informed me that he had received a call from Tami Norgard (also from North Moorhead) that the NWS had updated its deterministic forecast this morning at 10:30 am.  The one I saw this morning was the deterministic forecast on the front page of the Forum that showed yesterday’s forecast.  That forecast showed the highest level on Friday, March 19 at 32.6 feet (40.8 is the record level from March 28, 2009).  This morning the new forecast shows a peak of 38 feet on Friday night or early Saturday morning, March 20.  This peak would be a week earlier than the earliest and highest peak recorded last year on March 28, 2009! I attached that forecast from today to this email and further info is available on the NWS website http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=fgf&gage=fgon8&view=1,1,1,1,1,1&toggles=10,7,8,2,9,15,6

Good News/Bad News: With today’s updated NWS forecast there is good news and bad news.  The good news is that the crest would be at 38 feet and not 41 feet, a huge difference for us.  The bad news is that the peak is coming so extremely early again, even one week earlier than last year.  The cautious news is that the forecast from the NWS for Friday went from 32.6 feet to 38 feet in one day (from yesterday to today).  Does that mean tomorrow morning it may go to 41 feet?  If last year is an indicator, the answer is “YES!”

Current River Level: The current river level is 22.83 feet at 5:15 pm today (Sunday, March 14, 2010)

The previous river level was 22.43 feet at 2:15 pm today (Sunday, March 14, 2010)

MPS Activities: Tomorrow, the flood planning team at Moorhead Public Service (MPS) will go to daily meetings at 9:00 am at the Dispatch Center Conference Room to go over our flood plans.  The City of Moorhead Technical Team will have their meeting at 7:00 am.  With the peak possibly happening this week, we will have a short time to coordinate our efforts.  At this time, the peak looks to be lower so that is the good news – at this time J.  Jared Heller, MPS Flood Coordinator is doing a great job staying on top of MPS flood planning activities.  At this time, I believe we are in good shape here at the utility. Thanks Jared!

Long-term Flood Solution Discussed on Friday Morning (March 12, 2010) by Moorhead City Council: The Moorhead City Council had a working session on Friday to discuss the Army Corps of Engineers long-term flood solution for the Red River Valley around Moorhead and Fargo.  Specifically they are trying to determine the best option for a diversion, either a Minnesota Diversion that would wrap around Moorhead or a North Dakota Diversion that would go around Fargo.  I was talking to Council Member Brenda Elmer immediately before the meeting on Friday and she mentioned a Youtube.com video that she saw at a meeting.  The video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CB2JRNLUkAY.  I found the video and the title is “North Dakota Diversion: How it works”.  At the beginning of the video it states, “This is a video of the PowerPoint slides that accompanied Ed Schafer’s presentation given to the Fargo Moorhead Flood Study Group on Thursday March 4, 2010.  Visit www.fmfloodcontrol.com for more information.”  I looked at the video and I wish they had dubbed in Governor Ed Schafer’s verbal presentation that he gave while he did the PowerPoint presentation at the meeting on March 4.  I attended that meeting an thought Gov. Schafer did an excellent job with the presentation.

I just got off the phone with Moorhead Rat Patrol colleague Fred Ystebo and he was interested in the Diversion project wondering if we could become part of North Dakota if we did the Minnesota Diversion. J “Just curious” he said.  He also noted that Ed Schafer is on a commercial here locally on the North Dakota Diversion.  So the organization working on a North Dakota option, the ND Flood Protection Coalition, is working hard to influence the Fargo Moorhead Flood Study Group before they plan to make there decision on their recommendation to the Corps which is expected March 25^th.  The Forum opinion today is “Diversion: Do it right the first time” recommending the North Dakota option.

Quote of the Day: “38 feet is manageable, not great, but manageable.”  From my sister Mary Kay Schwandt, who lives in North Fargo near North Dakota State University.

Quote of the Week: Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty on Wednesday, “I leave here today feeling very confident that Moorhead and Clay County are as prepared as possible for these events”, speaking of flood preparations.

Highlights of the Week:

• Tuesday, March 9, 2010, Moorhead Press Conference at 11:00am.  Moorhead Mayor Mark Voxland, Moorhead City Manager Mike Redlinger, Clay County Board Chair Kevin Campbell, and Clay County Sheriff Bill Berquist led the press conference that announced that both the Mayor and Council and Clay County Commission approved official declarations of “a state of emergency” to prepare for a spring flood event for 2010 and prepare advanced measures.  Mayor Voxland hit a few high points:
• Sandbag Central picked up toward the middle of the week and the goal is 300,000 bags made for a level of 38 feet is within reach.  We are 2/3 the way there.  Fargo is doing similar preparations of sandbags.
• Governor Pawlenty was here in Moorhead on Wednesday, March 10, 2010, and looked over the flood situation and our planning.  He brought with him the MN DNR to look over all the preparations that have been completed this year to get ready for a flood.
• Zone meetings in Moorhead this week.  I heard that all the meetings went well with lots in attendance.
• The NWS releases its first deterministic forecast
• The NWS predicts 38 foot crest (today)

Reminders:

• GO TO www.cityofmoorhead.com to sign up for Code Red, where you can get alerts on your regular and cell phone.
• GO TO www.cityofmoorhead.com/flood and the flood blog to see reminders like this one:
  • • Homeowners Reminded to Discharge Sump Pumps Outside City of Moorhead homeowners who have been granted a seasonal waiver to discharge sump pumps to the sanitary sewer system are asked to redirect sump...

Links for more information: The City of Moorhead has a great site at www.cityofmoorhead.com/flood.  Moorhead Public Service has our information at www.mpsutility.com - look for the flood tile.  The City of Moorhead’s main phone number for flood related questions is 218.299.5300.

Picture of the Day: The picture of the day is actually from last night’s Section 6A Basketball tournament at Concordia College in Moorhead.  The happy people behind Tom are the Norman County West (NCW) fans looking on while Tom readied himself to throw the ball in during the semifinal game.  It was a heartbreaking game for the Schwandt family as Tom ended his high school basketball career with a loss to NCW 54 to 51.  Tom was sad, he is better today.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010 10:30 pm;

The following are notes on the flood event in Moorhead and Fargo, 2010.

Word(s) of the Day: Zones (Zone meetings started this evening, the first two of eight zone meetings happened this evening with City Engineer Bob Zimmerman talking about flood planning and looking for input from residents.

Picture of the Day: Today Bob Zimmerman mentioned during the Moorhead Technical/Coordination meeting that we needed pictures of the flood so if anyone could take some pictures that would be nice.  I’m not sure that my cell phone camera is the quality Bob was looking for but I believe I got a great picture of what was happening this evening in North Moorhead – check out the picture of Assistant City Engineer Tom Trowbridge with north Moorhead residents asking him questions after the Zone 1 neighborhood meeting (Tom T at Zone 1&2, Mar 9, 2010.jpg).

Quote of the Day: “I try not to over-think the flood, or it would drive me crazy” Grandma Opal (“the gem, not the car” J, Opal told me).  Opal was at the Zone 1 meeting in north Moorhead this evening – very sweet lady trying not to get over concerned about the flood.

Quote of the Week: “Preparing for this flood is like having two months to prepare before my home is hit by a tornado”  From an article in the Fargo-Moorhead Forum over the weekend.  Everyone is way ahead of the flood this year, very different from the flood last year.  Think about it, this journal started about four days before the crest and this year we are likely still one month away from the crest (likely to happen in mid-April, last year on March 28, 2009)

Quotes of the Flood:

• “We are sitting on the same keg of dynamite that we were sitting on last year at this time”, Greg Gust, forecaster from the National Weather Service (NWS), at the news conference concerning the flood forecast about four weeks ago.
• “The keg of dynamite is dry, it is bigger, and the fuse is getting shorter.”  Again, Greg Gust (NWS) at a press conference approximately two weeks ago.

Forecast – See attachment: Last Friday, March 5, 2010, the NWS delivered its latest forecast at a news conference in Fargo.  At this time, the NWS is predicting a 20 percent chance of having a flood that exceeds the level from last year (40.82 feet).  See the attachment for more information on the forecast from March 5.  The next NWS forecast will be on March 19.

Highlights of Today:

• Press Conference at 11:00am.  Moorhead Mayor Mark Voxland, Moorhead City Manager Mike Redlinger, Clay County Board Chair Kevin Campbell, and Clay County Sheriff Bill Berquist led the press conference that announced that both the Mayor and Council and Clay County Commission approved official declarations of “a state of emergency” to prepare for a spring flood event for 2010 and prepare advanced measures.  Mayor Voxland hit a few high points:
  • Sandbag Central – the goal is 300,000 bags made for a level of 38 feet.  We are 1/3 the way there.  Fargo is doing similar preparations of sandbags.
  • Three major neighborhood meetings were completed that outlined the city infrastructure (like $17 million) improvements that were put in place since last year.
  • Meetings starting this evening for the eight “flood fighting” zones, with zone leaders, etc.
  • One phone number this year:  218.299.5300 gets you to the answers in Moorhead.
  • Governor Pawlenty will be here tomorrow to look over the situation.  He will bring with him the MN DNR to look over all the preparations that have been completed this year to get ready for a flood.
  • The 300.000 sandbags are for the RESIDENTS, for private property, not public property (just a clarification J).
  • Tomorrow night is “College Night” at Sandbag Central, with contests, pizza, and door prizes (sounds like what it takes to get the young flood labor out earlyJ).
  • GO TO www.cityofmoorhead.com to sign up for Code Red, where you can get alerts on your regular and cell phone (I’m thinking Grandma Opal may skip this the cell phone step.)
• Zone 1 and 2 meetings at the Moorhead Country Club.  The meetings went well with lots in attendance.  Bob Z did a great job – twice.  Lots of questions.
• The Moorhead Public Service Commission had its meeting this evening.  It was uncharacteristically short (35 minutes).  It appears that President Ken Norman had a Zone one flood meeting to attend and I heard his new granddaughter was at his home as well.  Staff thought his granddaughter should stay so we can have short meetings all the time J.

Links for more information: The City of Moorhead has a great site (will be getting greater in a few days as well) at www.cityofmoorhead.com/flood.  Community Development Director (and flood communications guy) Scott Hutchins mentioned to me this evening that the official web site of the City will be getting an upgrade in the next few days (so go there now and then and see the difference).  Moorhead Public Service has our information at www.mpsutility.com - look for the flood tile.  I saw on the news this morning that a techie looking guy near Oak Grove in Fargo has a website with a webcam and pictures and blog and other stuff at www.fargoflooding.com.  I looked at it and he seems to be off to a good start.

Bill’s Disclaimer Again: Again, I will not feel badly at all if you do not wish to receive this email update – if you do NOT wish to receive this, please email me back and I will remove you from the list. Also, if you know someone who would like to receive this update, please email me their address and I will add them to the list, forward it yourself, or direct them to the MPS blog at www.mpsutility.com. Since we are not in the height of the flood fight, I will not be updating every day at this time, just when it seems relevant to do so.