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xc_rider08
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borrowing from rob's post on bcr
Well a little update, after everyone in town worked their azzes off to save what they have, used up all energy and physical stamina (me included and I don't have any personal property that is affected) the corp of engineers delayed their meeting all day of getting critical information to those who needed it and increased the dam releases from a current possible worse case scenerio of 120kcfs to now pushing 120k middle of this week to now 150k in a week or so.
More to come, loading pics.
So lemme explain a little of what has been going on. We had another great snowfall out here for like the third straight year. The lake has been empty for years up there and was finally filled. Dams are designed to flow enough in the fall and winter so that in the spring it would have enough room to absorb the capacity. Well the dam reaches capacity at 1854 and after that it will go over the spillway. They left the lake level with about enough room for 14ft, not even close to enough especially with them knowing that the mtns have had record snowfalls since Jan-feb.
So here we are in April and all of a sudden the lake is filling up fast. They start ramping up the increases but a lot of people are talking about flooding, yet they will not release any info. Water is going up and they can't release more down river because of mississippi flooding, and we now realise we are being sacraficed for those who are down water with more population. April 12th they hold a meeting and no public or media is allowed in the meeting with the corp and emergency management. Still no one knows what was at the meeting. hmmmmm!!!!!!!
So no word to anyone until about two weeks ago and they say the river might possibly flood. They were telling us maybe close to flood stage but more info to follow. Flash forward to last monday when they say a possibility for a major flood event and the resivoir is getting to much water for them to hold back, and everyone to start preparing for a major flood as releases would be somewhere in the 75kcfs range.
About every day or two in the last week it has been bumped up and would seriously damage most of Bismarck. Here is a model I ran for 500m or around 1640, or 18-20 range.
So around Thrusday things get REALLY serious when they tell us that river levels reach 105k cfs and that most of south Bismarck is in serious danger. The city starts ramping up a HUGE levee and dike system to save both Bismarck and Mandan. If it lets go ANYWHERE it will displace 10's of thousands or people for possibly 2 months. This is not a flash flood but will last most the summer. Also ground water is going to be one of the biggest issues, even if they can keep the overland waters out the groundwater is going to be really hard to control.
Today we get news of (after being delayed twice, it would have given residents 4 more hours to make new plans):
Yup, 150k cfs releases in about a week or so. They claim from 120k to 150k will only go up .6ft, I don;t believe that at all. They sa this will put it at 21ft, but when watching on tv when someone asked if it will go up again you could tell he was nervous and hiding something. But thats where we are now. Wore out. Tired. Sore. Sleepy. You name it, we are. Sick of being lied to, getting info too late, and worst of all so much mismangement that could have been more transparent. We are out of steem days ago already and running out of time. We have a LOT of faith in the city dike system but there are still lots of porperties that are outside of that system. It is not good and Old Blue lips has declared a National emergency here. FEMA getting called in.
Currently over 3.5 million bags have been made and 2.5 needed from dead tired sore bodies by next Wednesday. We wont give up, never. People whodont own homes in the affected area have worked day and night to help those affected. Its the neighbor thing to do. I a currenlty going on 4-5 hours of sleep a night and around 14-18 hour work days, all for family friends and people we dont even know. WE are pulling together to beatthis thing, but its getting worse fast. WE need help and prayers int eh worst way.
So Tuesday fill ad haul sandbags for xcriders uncle house. I think we were around 10 hours at that house before going to sandbag central to fill bags for the community, got done around 1. Heres some shots of his house that Kyle I think posted above...
Thursday morning get up at 6 and trying to recoop, deside another day of vacation to help others and find out some drunk drove their vehicle through my mothers hair salon, nothing like adding fuel on the fire!!!!
Decide we need to make a wall around my aunts condo and grandmas house, so fill sandbags till around midnight that ngiht. Shoulder is shot and either tore or pulled something in it, OD'n on Alieve and now Loracet to keep the pain down.
Up early to start baggin grandmas, get that done if a coulpe hours of intense bagging and off to Aunts...
Knock that out around 9 after a LOT of hardwork, I think we are covered to 22 ft, but hard to tell. Hopefully be covered to 150k but nothing more, maybe raise it some this week again.
Not even gonna guess how many bags to ring these two condos (had to both hers and neighbors because we could notget ahold of the owner and cant just do one)