Introduction
On Wednesday evening, March 25, the ward leaders in the Fargo 2 nd Ward had gathered to discuss the well-being of our ward members and continuing efforts to battle the rising flood waters threatening the cities of Fargo and Moorhead. We had agreed that the flood projections indicated we had at least 10 difficult days ahead of us, as flood levels were predicted to crest on the weekend and remain high for 3 to 7 days. That day we had built our dikes higher to withstand flood levels of 41 feet (23 feet over flood stage) and also battled a heavy winter snowstorm at the same time. It seemed uncertain how much longer we could stave off the rising waters.
Also, that Wednesday had been designated as a Special Day of Prayer by the combined Fargo units of the Church. We realized that our prayers were as important to the fight in which we were engaged as the dikes we were building, and in fact more important to our strength and courage and hope. Despite a heroic effort within the community and immense aid coming to us from outlying areas, I and others had a growing sense that we were at enormous risk without the direct assistance of our Father in Heaven.
City officials opened the morning meeting on Thursday morning with a recognition of the need for divine aid, and a Salvation Army minister offered a beautiful plea of hope and faith to our Father in Heaven. The call for continuing volunteers to aid in the massive sandbagging and dike-building efforts was issued once again. The waters on Wednesday had reached nearly 36 feet, dangerously close to the highest levels ever recorded. We were nearing the record crest level 39.57 feet from 1997 which had flooded a significant portion of the community. As Thursday morning dawned, we entered the eye of the storm.
Day 8 – Thursday, March 26, 2009
Red River Flood Stage – 38.81 feet
As we had identified about 25 households in our ward the previous evening that were at moderate to high risk of flooding in their areas, my first task on Thursday morning was to follow up with each household and be fully aware of their current status. Most of these households had checked in with us earlier in the week or had been in contact with home and visiting teachers. However, the ward leadership wished to contact them directly now and be able to report on their status to stake leaders and other Church authorities who were monitoring the fast-changing circumstances in the Fargo-Moorhead area. We wished to complete this initial assessment of households at significant risk prior to assessing the status of all 164 households in our ward boundaries.
Calls to these households led to more information and helped us to accurately understand the conditions that people were experiencing. We had 5 households that were affected by a need for mandatory evacuation, either due to flooding that had already occurred or due to significant threat. One category of individuals that I had failed to consider as needing significant attention and immediate plans for evacuation included vulnerable adult individuals in our ward and community. These individuals were persons who faced significant health challenges or other concerns and thus lived independently with assistance, in assisted living facilities, or nursing homes.
The Governor of North Dakota, John Hoeven, issued a mandatory evacuation order for such vulnerable populations and so several of our ward members were included in this requirement. Fortunately, we were able to contact each of them prior to the actual evacuation and assess that they were well and would remain in contact with home or visiting teachers. I made a mental note—vulnerable populations require advance consideration in a disaster situation. Pregnant women, young children, elderly individuals, or medically challenged persons need extra attention and care so that they might be planned for, cared for, and safeguarded during a crisis. I was grateful that our civil authorities recognized this need and responded to it quickly, and reminded me that this was a priority in handling the concerns of the flooding situation.
Another 15 member households were identified as medium to high risk that were threatened with significant flooding in their home areas or in need of immediate evacuation if dikes were to break. Five of these households would evacuate voluntarily to safe areas with friends or family or to the homes of other LDS Church families in the next 24 hours. We immediately were able to match individuals and families who felt the need to evacuate with shelter homes, if they did not have prior arrangements, and typically it was a home or visiting teacher who offered to open their home as needed. As I made calls throughout the ward, other ward members who were taking to volunteer that Thursday morning contacted me and asked how they might be of help. Small teams of church members, often comprised of priesthood quorum members or families and teenage children, went about the community assisting with various needs.
One family, James and Julie Berney, were in a significant risk area and needed help with moving belongings to upper levels of the home before evacuating. Two of our priesthood brethren, Nick Weber and Ben Hoffman, spent hours finding a way into their neighborhood and then assisting them with this task. Other homes at risk included the West home and the Babcock home, and they had prepared to do some minimal sandbagging. Brothers Babcock and West, a stake presidency counselor and elders quorum president respectively, had spent hours during the night building dikes to protect their immediate community. On Thursday and Friday, fellow members learned of their need and soon arrived to help them with preparations for their own homes. These calls from ward members seeking a place to help were more common than the calls for assistance, and we gladly directed them to areas where they might give service. One sister was in a safe region of town and volunteered to go to the county fairgrounds, where evacuated pets were being housed, and help with caring for those animals.
During the day the flood waters continued to rise. Cold temperatures lashed volunteers and the efforts to build additional dikes and raise the height of those protective dikes already built continued furiously. Community leaders requested a ban on travel unless there was significant need and only essential services were opened. All energy and focus was centered on fighting the rising waters.
During the hours that I spent calling ward members and coordinating volunteer responses, a realization slowly dawned within my soul. We were near a new phase of the struggle we had now been waging for days. Again, on this morning they announced that we had produced over half a million sandbags in the previous 24 hours. We were nearing 50 miles of dikes that had been built within the community for protection of homes, businesses, and other properties. We were doing all that we could. And yet, it was perhaps not going to be enough. I thought of the great challenge that faced Moses and the children of Israel as they were pursued by the Egyptian armies. They had done all that they could do, until finally they faced circumstances that seemed beyond their ability to master.
Their great prophet, Moses, stood forth and said in Exodus 14:13: “Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.”
Fear ye not. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord. This was my prayer and hope that Thursday morning.
I called Brother Ironroad and asked my children which of them wanted to go out for another day of sandbagging in the community. All four of my oldest children volunteered, including my 8-year old girl, who had been begging to come with us. My 6-year old girl also wanted to come, and cried when I told that I needed her to stay at home and help in caring for her younger siblings and getting our home ready. We arrived at the FargoDome for sandbagging activities and again were amazed at the sight. Hundreds of volunteers covered two thirds of the arena floor, and participated in all aspects of the sandbagging operation. Holding bags, filling them with sand, tying them off to be handled, and carrying them to pallets for loading and distribution were the activities that we could see, and there were literally hundreds of thousands of sandbags sitting and waiting to be loaded on trucks for delivery to waiting volunteers in the community.
We reached the arena in the early afternoon and began our sandbagging efforts. We met up with Rick Adams, our ward clerk and neighbor, and his son Erik and daughter Courtney. Finding spots that we might each contribute, we jumped into the efforts and each worked for hour after hour. I was most touched by the efforts of our children, who worked tirelessly and enthusiastically to fill and carry sandbags. My 8-year old daughter, weighing 65 pounds, jumped into a line and spent hour after hour hauling sandbags weighing 30 to 40 pounds to waiting pallets.
As I think of this entire experience, perhaps that one iconic image of her youthful faith and effort and enthusiasm has touched me more than any other moment. She would lift a sandbag, often struggling to hoist it into her arms, and then move quickly and confidently to place it in the hands of another volunteer or throw it onto a waiting pallet. Then she would move back to her place and lift another from the floor as soon it was deposited from a nearby pile of sand. I, who had doubted her strength and ability to endure such long hours, was reduced to tears by her example and stamina and good cheer. “A little child shall lead them,” remarks the scripture, and truly such was the case in watching her efforts.
Late in the afternoon I stood working at a sand pile, shoveling sand while my oldest daughter held the bags for me, when my oldest son came over. He had taken a cell phone call and wanted to relay the news. “Dad,” he said, “the news just issued new flood level projections. The projected level has gone up to 43 feet!”
43 feet—nearly 4 feet higher than ever recorded and 2 feet higher than the high levels projected on the previous day. If the waters were to truly reach that level, we had only 24 to 36 hours to raise the nearly 50 miles of dikes and levees another 2 feet higher and broader. I will be frank with you. I was stunned. This announcement was like being hit with a two-by-four. The entire community reeled. There just seemed to be no way that we could add another 2 feet to 48 miles of dikes and levees in 24 to 36 hours—we’d already done that twice in the previous 5 days.
After 4 and a half hours, I traveled home with my children and Brother Ironroad. On the way we observed federal authority vehicles securing the highways in preparation for a possible evacuation of the entire city. We learned later that federal authorities were adamant that the entire city be evacuated, but that our courageous Mayor Dennis Walaker, Deputy Mayor Tim Mahoney, and others stood their ground and asserted that they would not abandon the city and community that the citizens had given their heart and soul to protect in the last week. We would “Stand and Defend” as they put it.
Additionally, as we traveled home that night we received a report on the radio of a community north of us across the river, a subdivision of 550 homes, being inundated by rising flood waters and all inhabitants having to evacuate. It happened in a period of just two hours. The combination of the newly projected river crest and the flooded community nearly made me lose my faith and optimism. I worried greatly for my family and the welfare of our ward members, as well as those throughout our community.
We arrived home and my wife, children, and I spent the next 6 hours until midnight moving all of our belongings to the upper level of our home from the basement. Books, food storage, clothing, storage items, and many other things were moved, with our children working constantly to help us. Once we put most of them to bed, I worked another two hours with my oldest daughter to complete the removal of items from my home office. It was worrisome and tiring to box up my many genealogy and family history projects and move them, yet I knew that hundreds of others across the city were engaged in similar efforts to take care and protect their homes.
Friends and family members had checked in by phone and email throughout the day to question us about how things were going. Doug Larson, a high school friend and college roommate, sent a note and said, “Praying for your family, my friend. Wish I could help you toss some sand around.” Newell Wright, an LDS member from Virginia who is moving to our region with his family, wrote and commented: “I wish I were there with my wife and four adult children helping out with the sandbagging efforts. You are all in our thoughts and prayers.”
I had written a note to friends and family late in the evening at 10:59 p.m.: “Notice to all interested – flood projection went up another 2 feet at mid-day to 43 feet – nearly 4 feet over record levels. We have sandbagged higher and higher – we do not know what will happen. Evacuations planned.”
Throughout the week I had been keeping my emotions in check and trying to be an emotion resource to my family, members in the ward, and many community members. The sobering news of the early evening on Thursday had frightened me and reminded me much of my emotional experiences during an earlier time of crisis in my family’s life – fear, anxiety, stress, etc. At 2:00 a.m. it was quiet and peaceful. My wife and children slept. The snow had stopped falling.
I stepped outside my home and looked up at the sky. The snow had covered the trees and streets, blanketing all in a cover of white that looked pure and quiet.
It seemed bizarre to consider the threat of rising flood waters not far away. I knew then that our efforts were dependent on the Lord’s willingness to calm the storm. I spent long minutes in silent prayer and petitioned the Lord once again for help and mercy. I reminded him that we had dedicated our home and asked that it be preserved from the destructive elements of nature. I prayed that He would heed our calls for help. I resolved to be humble, to realize that our efforts were necessary but insufficient without the Lord’s aid, and to ask for His protection whatever might happen with the rising waters. Following this prayer I felt much greater peace and an impending sense that the Lord had been listening to our prayers.
Day 9 – Friday, March 27, 2009
Red River Flood Stage – 40.55 feet
Friday morning dawned bright and cold. Again the weather was chill and we returned to the tasks of assisting ward members and helping in the community. The city leaders had assessed the threat and determined that we would reinforce the dikes that we had built and then pray that they were sufficient to the challenges of the rising river.
My wife and I, Brother Matt Ironroad, and Ben and Amber Hoffman traveled early to the home of a sister in our ward with three young children. Her apartment was on the edge of a coulee that threatened to overflow its banks and the nearby road. We dug out a path to her apartment door through the snow, moved belongings and furniture upstairs, and assisted with her children. She had fallen and received a concussion days before and now was extremely sick, vomiting continuously and unable to do much at all. Within two hours her belongings had been moved to safety, she and her children were packed up, and she was evacuated to the Hoffman home in a safer area. I kept tabs by cell phone on other ward members who had evacuated or were planning to evacuate, and discussed conditions with other ward leaders.
While sandbagging efforts continued and we assisted those who needed to evacuate, at the same time there were individuals with other needs. We had given the sister a priesthood blessing while at her home, then my wife and I traveled with Brother Ironroad to the home of another sister who also needed a priesthood blessing. It seemed a distraction in the midst of all the other tremendous efforts that were occurring. Yet the scripture came to my mind that the Savior often left the “ninety and nine” to tend to the needs of the one during His ministry, and surely He would bless us if we gave such time and effort in the midst of our other concerns.
Not long after we reached home in the early afternoon, my wife left once again to go with the mother we had evacuated to the emergency room for several hours. I prepared status reports that would allow us to identify the status of all 164 households in our Fargo 2 nd Ward, and then went over the names one at a time with our Relief Society president, Sister Shay Seamons. She had continuously worked with visiting teachers and other ward leaders to receive reports on the well-being of all ward members, and through our combined efforts we were able to be informed of about 70 percent of our ward households and their status.
By late Friday afternoon the tremendous volunteer efforts of the preceding week were slowing down. Miles and miles of dikes and secondary levees now provided protection to homes and neighborhoods across the city. Tens of thousands of sandbags sat in reserve to be mobilized if necessary. The city had informed us that we would need 1.5 million sandbags in 5 to 6 days. It had seemed impossible, as the city had completed only about 100,000 sandbags a day in the 1997 flood operation. By Friday afternoon it was clear that we had completed between 3 million and 3.5 million sandbags in the time given to us and placed them throughout the city.
Friday afternoon and early evening the reports of ward members kept rolling in. Martha Olsen, who I mentioned earlier, had volunteered throughout the week in registering volunteers and making sandbags. On Thursday evening we had met on the floor of the FargoDome, two dusty and weary Latter-day Saints of the Fargo 2 nd Ward, and leaned on our shovels and talked briefly of the enormous efforts going on around us. Jerry Cook, our other bishop’s counselor, called me and asked if we might bring an ice cream cake by to remember his wife’s birthday.
After a full day of work on Thursday, he had gone to the sandbagging operations site at the FargoDome and worked a full shift through the night until 5:00 or 6:00 a.m. in the morning. He rested briefly and then continued all day Friday, helping a member to fix her sump pump so that water could be pumped from her property if it got through her sandbag dike. Jenny West, who had been at home watching children and helping others while her husband volunteered, went out on Thursday evening and also worked several hours from late evening until 3:00 a.m. in the morning making sandbags. Individual after individual worked tirelessly, quietly, only sharing their experiences when I called to inquire regarding their activities or well-being.
On Friday evening, my wife and I went to meet with the West family and the Cook family. The West family had evacuated to the home of the Cook family and planned to stay until conditions improved. They were all tired but in good spirits. Brother Cook, President West, and I canvassed all 164 households in the ward on our list, and split up the remaining households between us to be called by the next afternoon so that we might report the status of every household to our stake leaders. Again, it was a relief to me in stressful circumstances to be in the uplifting presence of good Latter-day Saints, to see their humor and warmth and strength in the face of concerns.
After reaching home late on Friday evening, I received a call from my father and mother, Jack and Karen Brotherson, who were visiting my sister in Hawaii. They were concerned for our welfare and ready to listen. I am close to my father and his spiritual strength seemed to pour into me from afar as he just listened and I recounted our anxieties and stress. He was reassuring and comforting, as was my mother, and their support and prayers relieved some of the stress and emotion that I felt.
The report from the night before had continued to weigh heavily on my mind and had made me very concerned for the safety of our church members and our entire community. And yet, I was sustained by the images of faith I had seen over the previous days: Matt Ironroad hauling pallets two at a time on his broad shoulders on the floor of the FargoDome; long lines of LDS and community youth and adults moving sandbags to build a dike; my 8-year old daughter, begging to help, and then throwing 40-pound sandbags for 4 hours along with grown men, never stopping and never complaining.
I had seen a thousand such moments.
Newell Wright, who was watching our crazy weather from Virginia with a probable mixture of awe and disbelief, received an email from me late that night: “Newell, we’ve been making hundreds of thousands of sandbags, working straight through 24 hours a day, and building miles of sandbag dikes in freezing temperatures. These are the type of people you’ll come to know and love.” He soon wrote to others: “I am proud to be moving to Fargo, a community of people who know how to band together in time of need.”
The long hours of effort made me restless and I was up late again on Friday evening. At 12:40 a.m. I wrote: “My many family members and friends – thanks for your prayers for Fargo-Moorhead. How much we need them. We now have 10 days of watching, waiting, hoping, and praying that the river does not go much higher and our dikes hold.” Not much later at 12:52 a.m. I wrote: “We needed 1.5 million sandbags in 5 to 6 days. We have made 3 million. We needed dikes for 39 feet – then up to 43 feet in days. We have given our all. It’s in the Lord’s hands – pray for us.”
The Red River crested at Fargo sometime in the early morning hours at 40.82 feet – close to a foot higher than ever in recorded history. We were now in the Lord’s hands.
Spiritual Observations and Lessons Learned
As the Red River reached its crest late on that Friday evening, our community was suspended on the edge of waiting. The efforts of our hands had given way to the prayers of our hearts. Again, there were so many examples to learn from and spiritual observations that came from the experience.
- It is important to remember “the least of these” in our preparations and efforts while responding to disaster concerns. Not all can walk easily and need greater levels of assistance, medical or emotional, if they must be moved from their home or care surroundings. The members of our ward who were more vulnerable adults were of good cheer, but how grateful I was to the caring ward and community members who had remembered them and provided support to them in the crisis that we faced. Truly, to remember the widow or the disabled or the orphan in such circumstances is critical in our efforts.
- A well-developed plan for emergency operations is of immense value in responding to questions of need during a crisis. Individuals or families need to develop their own plan, and ward and stake organizations also need them. Fortunately, our Fargo ND Stake has encouraged us to think about and update our emergency response plans yearly, so we had at least some preparation in this area as the flooding threatened our community. However, even the temporary plans, such as evacuation contingencies within the community for our ward members, were helpful in identifying needs and available resources.
- The long hours and service efforts of our ward members during a crisis were extraordinary to behold. Crisis opportunities seem to bring out our highest potential. This experience has also made me reflect, however, on my own efforts during times of calm rather than crisis. Can the Lord depend on me for faithful efforts and service during the daily hours of mundane activity also? Does it require an emergency to launch my best efforts for others and the Lord? Perhaps we learn from our moments of crisis what we also need to give in our weeks and months of calm.
