Flood Report #2 3/23/09 2:07 PM

I'm back home after a morning on campus. Classes are shut down for today and tomorrow and the students from MSUM, Concordia and NDSU have been sent into the flood fight. It was college students who were key in . 1997 and they will be key again. They work fast. They last longer. They recover quicker. They and thousands of others are at work across the area. So many showed up to fill soundbags they had to just put a big pile of sand in the parking lot and give out shovels.

The volunteer surged is the good news. The weather forecast is the bad news. We've had showers today and more are possible tonight and tomorrow. At some point tomorrow afternoon it is to turn much cooler and the rain is to turn into snow. I've not heard how much snow for here, but farther west in North Dakota they are calling for several inches. This puts more pressure on the sandbagging and dike building. You can't build a good dike with frozen sandbags. To help speed things up at some sites, the city is getting "temporary flood walls." Evidently you can set these things up, fill them with sand and you've got a flood wall. I want to see one, but now is no time for sightseeing. In fact, the Sheriff on the Minnesota side threatens to arrest gawkers and put them to work sandbagging.

As for me, I'm doing my laundry now in case there is a call to reduce water usuage later in the week. This evening I'll return to "Flood Central" to answer phones again. I'll call later to see if they need me earlier than I planned to be there. I'll be back there again tomorrow and as many nights this week as needed.

I was supposed to give an exam to my American Government class on Thursday. It is a test that was delayed by the blizzard before Spring Break. Now it will be delayed by a flood. It is officially 'the disaster test.'