North Dakota – Lt
Col Erik Ludlow, Mission Information Officer
2030- 26 Mar 09
Col Karl Altenburg, ND Wing Commander
and Incident Commander, made the decision to move the
Fargo Mission Command post to Casselton, ND as City
Officials in Fargo, ND issued a statement that all major
roads would be closed around the city. MN Wing
ground teams were immediately moved to Minnesota State
University Moorhead to rally all members. Once
accounted for, they departed for their home units. Col
Karl Altenburg, Lt Col Erik Ludlow and 1st Lt Paul
Engstrom gathered essential supplies and loaded several
vehicles bound for Casselton, ND. The base was
evacuated by 0230 on 27 Mar, 09.
All ground operations were
suspended until further notice. This decision was made
to allow cadets to remain with their families so they
continue to help at home.
0800- 27 Mar 09
Two aircraft were positioned at
Casselton airport early Friday morning. The command
team then worked to establish a base with the help of
airport manager, Bob Miller. 1st Lt Mark
Carlson worked to establish communications and
internet. He contacted Midnight Solutions technologies
who donated internet access so the mission staff could
continue to communicate with the State EOC and other
operations. He and 1st Lt Paul Engstrom then
worked to raise an additional antenna to enhance the
communications capabilities at Casselton
Two air sorties were launched for
photo missions as weather finally cleared and the crews
were able to get additional pictures of ice dams and
flooding in the area. Crews consisted of Col Walt
Vollmers, Lt Col John Steiner, Maj Chad Smith and 1st
Lt Steve Vivian took pictures of ice dams from Valley
City, ND to Lisbon, ND.
Video of the Red River Near Fargo:
http://www.ncrpao.org/specials/2009_floods/20090327_video.htm
Aerial Images from Fargo Taken Today:
http://www.ncrpao.org/specials/2009_floods/20090327_nd_air.htm
South Dakota - Col
Mike Beason, Wing Commander
Photos from yesterday's mission are
on the wing website (
www.sdcap.us
). Click on the Brown County link.
Thanks to the Pierre crew who took the photos and worked
LATE last night to prepare them for the county and
state. Both took a look at them this morning. I'm told
the flooding threat is down a bit so they don't need
more today.
The crew was Wayne Jackson, Gary Dettman, and Tam Gatje
(photographer).
After the flight, Myra Christensen assisted with
labeling the photos and uploading to a website so Rick
Goeringer could move them to our CAP site.
Col George Colombe was the SD on-call
IC today and he took a call from the North Dakota Wing
Operations Officer, Major Bill Kay, that they were
looking for support at their mission base for the
weekend. He made some phone calls to several squadron
commanders and put together a plan of support. As a
result, he, 1st Lt Jordan Hall, and Cadet Bojan
Salihagic, all from Sioux Falls, are flying a plane to
the new CAP mission base in ND at Casselton. They'll
provide relief to the current staff, manning positions
of Incident Commander, Air Operations Branch Director,
and Mission Staff Assistant.
CAP members Maj Wayne Jackson and Lt Col Tam Gatje of
Pierre, who flew yesterday's flood photo mission around
Aberdeen, visited the SD Emergency Operations Center in
Pierre today.
