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Update from Col Karl Altenburg
Commander, North Dakota Wing
Picture of a bridge on I-94 near Harwood, ND taken by a
CAP Aerial Imaging Flight on 26 March 2009
Click on the image for a much larger version.
This morning, activities began at 0800
at Fargo Mission Base. 57 members have arrived and have been
assigned to mission base staff, ground teams, or air crews.
The crest level for Red River of the North in Fargo was
raised to 41.0 feet and is predicted to occur on Saturday,
March 28. Several homes and townships are being evacuated
south of Fargo. City officials are pleading for more
volunteers to fill and lay possibly another 1,000,000
sandbags over next 2 days.
An air crew was dispatched following an emergency request to
locate an ice jam along the Sheyenne River. An ice jam is
suspected of causing the river to rapidly rise in the town
of Fort Ransom, ND, 60 miles southwest of Fargo. If the
source and extent of the jam is not identified, the town
must be evacuated.
The crew flew along the Sheyenne river
taking images and radioing the location of the ice jams to
the Ransom County Emergency Operation Center. The crew
consisted of Col Walter Vollmers (ND Wing), Lt Col Bruce
Emmel (Red River Valley Senior Squadron, ND), and 1st Lt
Paul Engstrum (119th ANG Cadet Squadron, ND).
5 ground teams with a total of 49 members we dispatched to
sites in north Fargo. The ground teams consisted of members
from both the North Dakota and Minnesota wings. These teams
built sandbag dikes all morning. There have been more
requests from sites needing help than can be immediately met
by available resources.
Operations continue throughout the state. Yesterday, the
Army Corps of Engineers used explosives to break up a large
ice jam on the Missouri river south of Bismarck. Maj Bill
Kay (ND Wing) continues to control operations in the west
with regular contact with Maj Sean Johnson, the Bismarck
Composite Squadron commander, who is located in the ND State
Emergency Operations Center.
The Red Cross continues to support the personnel both in the
field and back at mission base with food and water.
Karl Altenburg, Col, CAP
ND Wing Commander
Red River Valley Area Incident Commander
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