Grand Forks Part II
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http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/03/31/onefamilyfights/
You can pay me for advertising later Shane... -
"You can see that the carpet is really, really dirty, which normally would drive me crazy," said Karen Witthoeft, "but it hasn't bothered me at all."
im surprised your house looks less like a war zone then it does
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joels famous.
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Congrats to all who helped to save Fargo. We were close to being forced out and not being able to protect ourselves.
From the Fargo Forum;
Walaker says exodus would have sunk city
âFront line of defenseâ was key in fighting off flood, mayor says
Had Fargo launched a citywide evacuation as urged by state and federal officials late last week, the effects on the city could have been devastating, said Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker.
By: Dave Olson, INFORUMGov. John Hoeven, left, talks with Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker during a public briefing Saturday. Associated Press
A pickup drives through floodwaters flowing across Cass County 17 on Tuesday north of West Fargo. David Samson / The Forum RELATED CONTENT
Hoeven and Walaker
Driving through the water
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Had Fargo launched a citywide evacuation as urged by state and federal officials late last week, the effects on the city could have been devastating, said Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker.âIf weâd have walked away at that time, Iâm sure the majority of the city would have been flooded,â Walaker said. âThe people are our front line of defense.â
The closed-door meeting to talk about whether to do a large-scale evacuation took place at the height of Fargoâs flood battle late last week. The discussion became heated at times, with Fargo leaders striving to convince state and federal authorities the cityâs defenses were sound, said Vice Mayor Tim Mahoney.
âThey came in as a team,â said Walaker, referring to the meeting, which included Gov. John Hoeven and officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
âFirst of all, you have to understand their concerns: They donât want anything like (Hurricane) Katrina, or some place like that,â Walaker said.
âBut they didnât fully understand how much preparation, how much work weâd already gone into to try to save our community,â he added.
Mahoney said the governor and FEMA wanted the city to strongly consider a large evacuation.
Don Canton, a spokesman for Hoeven, said state and federal officials met with Fargo leaders to evaluate the âadvisabilityâ of a citywide evacuation.
âIâm sure there was a discussion of mandatory evacuation, but thatâs not what was agreed on and executed,â Canton said.
He said the agreement reached, that vulnerable adults would leave and voluntary evacuations would be done in some areas, âobviously worked.â
Mahoney said Fargo already was in the process of evacuating vulnerable individuals before the meeting with state and federal officials.
He said that move apparently prompted someone to âpull the triggerâ on a larger-scale evacuation, because parts of interstates 29 and 94 were closed Friday, the day before the Red River crested in Fargo at 40.82 feet.
Mahoney said he called the governorâs office about the highway closings and was told the matter would be fixed.
And it was, said Lance Gaebe, the governorâs deputy chief of staff.
Gaebe said the interstate shutdown was the result of a glitch in communication between emergency management officials and the department of transportation.
âThey basically said to prepare to put out an announcement in case we need to do this, and it got released as if it were happening,â Gaebe said.
âAlmost as quickly as that, the retraction went out,â he added.
Mahoney said he considered the matter settled and turned his attention back to fighting the flood.
Walaker said the meeting lasted about 45 minutes and all sides voiced their opinions.
After the talks were over, Walaker was told the decision was his to make.
âI said, âOK, Iâve made my decision: We will continue to protect our city,â â Walaker said.
Walaker said he doesnât want to âcreate any adversarial positions between us and the people who support us,â he said.
But, he added, he wasnât going to give up on his city, either.
âAs long as we were continuing to hold our own, I wasnât willing to abandon the people,â Walaker said.
The decision to limit evacuations turned out to be a good one, according to Walaker.
âPeople said they wouldnât have gone anyway,â he said.
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