Last night, the Smith family left Fargo at approximately 11pm - they had intended to leave Friday morning, but the impending danger and warnings were heeded. They traveled to Moorhead and at 6:30am, were emergency evacuated as the city is experiencing sewage backup and are unable to house evacuees. At this time, the family is traveling to Minneapolis to a safe location.
From Angela's conversation, the dikes in and around Fargo are leaking and/or showing signs of failure. They have increased the flood heights to 43ft and it is likely that most of the area will be under water.
As the Smith family travels to Minneapolis, they are seeing little traffic heading the same direction and the only traffic they see going in the opposite direction is emergency vehicles, large construction equipment, tractor trailers with supplies and National Guard Convoys. Buses are transporting volunteers to the city - most residents have been up for 5-7 days sandbagging and are exhausted - many haven't slept for days. The sites are staggering and humbling.
Donations (monetary, food, etc..) are greatly needed. Please visit:
www.givebackimpact.org and donate - these monetary donations will be doubled and kept local. These funds will assist with shelters and volunteer efforts. Also, donate to the Salvation Army and Red Cross - both organizations will be instrumental in recovery efforts.
To listen to local news:
http://www.mojo104.com/ and
http://www.fm1051.net/ will be the best resources. You will have a true sense of the dire need that people have and the extent of situation. The city's priority at this time is repairing any leaking/failed dikes and evacuating all residents. The focus is no longer building more dikes or sandbagging.
Please send your prayers out to all families and especially to the Smiths.
The amount of times I was able to explain my title, and actually hand out the website was really good over the weekend. It was a great time, and I look forward to doing it again at the Fall show.
