Weather Update March 2010

Monday, March 22, 2010, 1 pm River level is dropping

Whew! The Red River reached a crest of 37 feet yesterday and is slowly dropping. We are grateful that we didn’t need to activate our evacuation plans. And residents and team members are thrilled knowing they’ll be staying in their own homes.

The water will recede slowly—about six inches per day over the next several weeks, according to officials. In the meantime, life at Waterford is returning to normal.

We hope you’ll be able to join us for our upcoming events.

Thank you for visiting our flood update site. We’ll leave this post up for a couple of days, and then we’ll remove the link.

Happy spring!

Friday, March 19, 10 am Coping with current overflow ... and looking to prevent future flooding

Colder temperatures have settled into the valley. This morning, it’s 23 degrees, with a forecasted high of 30 degrees. According to Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker, this has a positive and negative effect on the flood fight. The negative? "Frozen sand bags leak," says the mayor.

To combat the colder temperatures, the city is keeping 500,000 sandbags in heated storage, ready for placement, as needed. Crews are staffing sump pumps. Finally, members of the North Dakota National Guard and Fargo Police Department are monitoring the dikes around the clock to check for any leaking.

The good news about colder weather is that lower temperatures tend to reduce river levels and slow the river's flow.

Vote coming next week

As officials try to hold off the rising river, they have been working on a permanent flood solution for the Fargo-Moorhead area. The North Dakota diversion, as it’s known, is supported by the Metro Flood Study Work Group. This group is made up of representatives from Fargo, North Dakota; Moorhead, Minnesota; rural Cass County; and rural Clay County. Next week, the Fargo City Commission, Moorhead City Council, and Cass and Clay county commissions will vote on the $1.3 billion diversion plan.

If conditions remain stable, the next Waterford resident flood meeting will be Tuesday, March 23 at 3 pm. As always, family members are welcome to attend.

We will update this site over the weekend only if we need to activate our plans. Like other citizens in this area, Waterford residents and team members head into the weekend watching … and waiting.

Thursday, March 18, 11 am Plans are in place ... now we wait

According to city leaders, flood preparation is moving into watchful waiting maintenance mode and as they remain cautiously optimistic about the rising Red River.

At today’s resident flood meeting, Waterford Building Services Manager CJ Sahr talked about river levels and how those levels affect the Waterford property. He demonstrated the city of Fargo’s interactive flood map that shows elevations throughout the area. CJ reminded everyone that we will continue to monitor the flood situation throughout the next several days, since the river could remain at crest level awhile.

Waterford Executive Director Kari Dick communicated that the evacuation and building protection plan is in place. All Waterford managers are on call this weekend in case we need to initiate the plan.

The Fargo-Moorhead area continues to show how well the community comes together when there is a need. Thousands of volunteers—including more than 2,000 students from Fargo’s schools—have turned out over the past several days to fill sandbags and help construct sandbag dikes in neighborhoods adjacent to the flooding Red River. Waterford is being protected by many of these sandbag dikes, and we thank all of the students and volunteers for their hard work!

The next resident flood meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 23 at 3 pm. Family members are welcome to attend.

Wednesday, March 17, 3 pm There’s a spirit of optimism around the city

It’s St. Patrick’s Day—and optimism is the word of the day. Everyone from Fargo city leaders to Waterford managers is optimistic that flood protection will prevent any major flooding during this flood season. According to Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker, sandbagging should conclude this evening for all neighborhoods along the Red River. Clay contingency dikes are being constructed to control overland flooding and local runoff that drains to the river. City and county leaders are monitoring tributary rivers very closely.

Waterford Executive Director Kari Dick continues to work closely with the local public health department and the Waterford management team to plan contingencies for the rising river. The plan addresses evacuation sites, transportation, food services, health care services, and life enrichment for all residents.

As of 1:15 pm in Fargo, the Red River is 31.21 feet. The crest now is forecasted to be 38 feet on Sunday, March 21.

The next resident flood preparation meeting is Thursday, March 18 at 11 am. Family members are welcome to attend.

Tuesday, March 16, 4 pmWaterford hopeful that evacuation won’t be necessary

The Red River continues to rise, and officials expect it to crest either Friday or Saturday. Currently, they still believe it will crest at 38 feet, which is three feet lower than last year’s level.

The first floor of Waterford rests at 39.5 feet. Thus, it appears that Waterford will remain dry, even as other parts of Fargo experience flooding.

We are not leaving anything to chance, though. We have put into place specific plans for evacuation, if conditions change suddenly. We also have made arrangements for Touchmark staff from other communities to fly to Fargo and provide assistance, if necessary.

We are carefully watching all reports from the city and National Weather Service and will make a decision regarding evacuation based on guidance from public health officials. During last year’s flood, we emptied the building in a matter of hours. It was well-organized, and everything went according to our plans. We are hopeful that we won’t have to repeat an evacuation this year.

Our next resident meeting is Thursday, March 18 at 11 am, and family members are welcome. To keep residents informed, we also are providing updated river levels to staff at the front desk.

Please continue to look here for updates. We will keep you posted.

Monday, March 15, 1:47 pm PST River expected to crest March 20

The Red River is rising more quickly than previously expected and now is expected to crest at 38 feet on Saturday, March 20. We are working very closely with the city to monitor the constantly changing situation. Right now, we don’t know if we will need to evacuate, but we are making contingency plans in case that becomes necessary.

We have scheduled two resident meetings this week:

• Tuesday, March 16 at 3 pm
• Thursday, March 18 at 11 am

Family members also are invited to attend these meetings.

Continue to watch this site. We will update it as the situation changes.

The following two Web sites provide information about the rising river:

This North Dakota State University site tracks hourly changes in the level of the Red River:
http://fargoflood.dreamhosters.com/level2010/

This interactive site prepared by the city of Fargo shows how certain river levels could affect specific properties.
http://gis.cityoffargo.com/FargoFloodStages/FargoFloodApp.html

Thursday, March 4, 10 am PST Waterford making preparations in case flooding occurs

Waterford is working with the city of Fargo, area health providers, and others to develop potential flood responses, including any evacuations, should those become necessary.

We also are making plans and communicating with residents and family members. We discussed our plans with residents March 3 and will continue to hold weekly resident meetings until the risk of flooding subsides.

We have asked each resident to complete a “Resident Evacuation Plan” form and submit it to the front desk by Friday, March 5. The form requests information about emergency contacts as well as residents’ tentative plans in the event of an evacuation. This information will let us know who is planning to remain at Waterford and who is planning to evacuate to a family member’s home or other destination. We then can plan accommodations, supplies, and transportation needs.

Stephanie Doppler, RN, is contacting family members of Devonshire residents to discuss plans for them.

We invite family members to attend weekly information meetings with residents:

• Wednesday, March 10 at 4 pm
• Tuesday, March 16 at 3 pm
• Tuesday, March 23 at 3 pm

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