Fargo-Moorhead mayors warn against taking down dikes
By DeAnne Hilgers
The Forum
Students stopped filling sandbags and the Flood Volunteer Center shut down Wednesday, but city officials on both sides of the Red River are warning residents to leave their dikes up.

The flood fight isn’t over yet.

The Red River in Fargo was at 37.5 feet Wednesday morning, the level for which residents and city officials initially prepared, Mayor Bruce Furness said. He recommended leaving dikes in place at least another week.

"We still are flirting with disaster here," he said. "...This is not the time to be taking down dikes."

While they wait for the river to slide into its normal channel, Furness and other city officials will start planning for the cleanup but asked the community to be patient. Both city employees and residents need a break first, the mayor said.

Moorhead Mayor Morris Lanning also asked residents not to raze their dikes, but said cleanup efforts are under way.

Clean-Up Week will be May 5-9 and the city will waive all fees for collecting materials damaged by the flood. For more information, call 299-5305.

Ditch cleaning begins today with assistance from the Minnesota National Guard. The Guard also will begin to remove city sandbag dikes no longer necessary for flood protection. No sandbag dikes will be removed from the Horn and Woodlawn park areas until the river has receded to a comfortable level.

Sand will be recycled. Moorhead residents are asked to empty their bags at a designated location in the block, no closer than 3 feet from the curb. Empty sandbags should be bundled and left near the sand pile.

The Volunteer Center has returned to its regular telephone number, 293-6462, until cleanup operations begin.

"If there were another emergency we could set up very quickly," said coordinator Mary Kenna.

The center will reopen its site at Fargo Civic Memorial Auditorium for cleanup. The date is to be determined.

In other flood-related news:

• Students and employees from Northwest Technical College in East Grand Forks, Minn., can call (800) 492-4836 for information on such issues as financial aid and payroll or to speak with a college counselor. The line is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The East Grand Forks campus closed due to flooding but Moorhead’s campus is in session.
• Anyone in Fargo who must repair or reconstruct their homes because of flooding must obtain city inspections and permits before starting work. For more information, call 241-1561.