Fargo preparing for after-flood cleanup
By DeAnne Hilgers
The Forum
Fargo slowly is returning to normal as National Guard and city crews took out chunks of the 40th Avenue South dike Friday.

City officials started laying cleanup plans for after the flood, with a goal of dismantling and clearing sandbag dikes by late May and temporary dirt levees by the second week in June.

Operations Manager Dennis Walaker continued to warn residents about removing dikes too early.

"We know they want to get on with life but we’re still very vulnerable," he said.

The city won’t remove earthen dikes, such as the one on Second Street North, until the river has dropped significantly.

"We’re not going to take a chance on the safety of the city of Fargo simply because somebody thinks it’s over," Walaker said.

Some areas along the 40th Avenue dike opened Friday. More openings will be created this weekend to allow better access to Centennial Elementary School and the Rose Creek development.

The city also began picking up unused sandbags Friday.

Crews will pick up filled sandbags south and southwest of Rose Coulee starting Thursday. Residents there are asked to leave the sandbags on the paved street, not on the grass side of the curb.

Sandbag pick-up won’t begin along the river corridor until May 6, when the river is expected to drop to 30 feet.

The city will not cross private property to reach sandbags. Residents are responsible for moving the bags from the dikes to the street.

The Volunteer Center will be open Thursday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. to coordinate volunteers to help with sandbags. Coordinator Mary Kenna also is developing a program for churches or civic organizations to adopt a neighborhood and help return it to normal.

The Volunteer Center will use its normal number, 293-6462, at the beginning of the week and will switch to its flood center number, 232-9200, on Thursday.

The city also will pick up flood-damaged items next week in areas south of Rose Coulee and along the river.

Others with flood-damaged items are asked to put them at the curb during Cleanup Week, which has been delayed until June 2.

Cleaning up will be easier in some neighborhoods than others. In Meadow Creek, for instance, Traffic Engineer Rick Lane estimates 3,700 filled sandbags, 230 cubic yards of sand and 20,000 empty sandbags were waiting for pick-up.

On nearby Rose Creek Parkway, only 40 filled bags and 14 yards of sand require the city’s attention.

The city, Cass County and Fargo School District likely will receive substantial federal funding to reimburse flood-fighting costs, including cleanup and restoration. Exact amounts are yet to be determined.

Salaries, overtime costs, materials, contract costs, engineering services and administration are among the costs eligible for reimbursement.

Typically, FEMA would reimburse only overtime costs for emergency work. Since President Clinton’s visit earlier this week and his announcement that FEMA would cover 100 percent of eligible costs, however, all regular and overtime costs are eligible for reimbursement.

Not everything will be covered, however.

FEMA doesn’t cover the costs for damage inspections and may pay only what it costs to rent pumps instead of reimbursing Fargo for the $65,000 it spent to purchase some of them.

Thirty-seven FEMA inspectors are in the Fargo area now and that number is expected to double.

"We’ll be working in this community as long as it takes," said Kathleen Marsh of FEMA community relations.

FEMA officials said the flood at Grand Forks, N.D., is the first time they’ve seen virtually an entire community lost.

Dennis Daly, FEMA congressional liaison, said the town has been physically devastated but has not lost its heart and soul.

"Here you have a community where they lost every piece of history, every picture," said Marsh. "That’s pretty sad. It’s not like anything I’ve ever seen."