As anyone that's followed this website for any length of time knows, I'm a proud citizen of the state of North Dakota. My residency of North Dakota is a big part of the reason that I'm currently a Vikings fan, because they were guaranteed to be broadcast every Fall Sunday in our humble little town of Forman (population 700). And unless you've been living under a rock for the past couple of days, you've no doubt heard about the floods that are going to be rocking the state here in short order.
Depending on what source you're getting your information from, a mandatory evacuation of the city of Fargo, North Dakota's largest city, is either pending or has already been ordered. As far as I can tell, the order has not been given yet. . .but in situations like these, there's nothing wrong with hoping for the best and planning for the worst. Bismarck, North Dakota's capital, doesn't look like it's safe, either, as they've began to experience some flooding as well.
The city of Fargo is calling for 2,000 volunteers to fill sandbags in an attempt to build the dikes around the Red River higher and, hopefully, stave off the better portion of these flood waters. I'm sure that the people in Bismarck could use some help as well. Personally, I wish I could jump in the car, drive up there myself, and grab a shovel like a lot of us did for the Grand Forks floods of 1997. . .unfortunately, I can not, as I have duties to attend to here in Mississippi. But I urge you, if you're physically able, to please give some serious consideration to assisting in any way possible. This flooding isn't going to be somebody else's problem. . .it's going to be everybody's problem. Even if the flood can't be stopped completely, its effect can (hopefully) be lessened by a group effort to keep things from getting worse.
And if you're not willing to volunteer, for whatever reason, let me pass some advice that we get given whenever there's a hurricane that looks like it's headed for the Gulf Coast here.
Start packing.
Get the important stuff. . .insurance paperwork and other important documents, family pictures, stuff that can't generally be replaced. Put your things into something waterproof, if you haven't done so already, and have it sitting by the door. That way, when the evacuation order IS given, if it comes to that, you can grab your container, get the kids and the pets into the car, and get the heck out of Dodge.
If you're too far away, which is the unfortunate situation I find myself in, do your best to try to keep in contact with any relatives that might be affected by this. Keep the residents of Fargo and Bismarck and everywhere else in North Dakota that could potentially be affected by this in your thoughts and prayers.
Hopefully, this won't be as bad as the projections are saying. If anyone out there wants to use this thread to update the situation, feel free. . .hopefully the updates will be coming from people that are far away from ND that are sitting at home hearing the news on the radio or on TV and not people that are still sitting there waiting for the worst to happen.