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St Cloud Squadron responds to regional flooding
Capt Richard Sprouse, MN Wing March 27th 2009
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Members of the St. Cloud Composite Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol came to the aid of the residents of the Fargo/Moorhead area as rushing flood waters threatened the area.

When the call for assistance came in, nearly 20 members were ready to begin sandbag operations to assist as the flooding threatened local residents' homes there.

"Our mission was to support flooding that could affect thousands of residents," said First Lieutenant George Ramler of St. Cloud. "We filled lots of sandbags and assisted building dikes by homes threatened by the Red River."

Approximately 200 Civil Air Patrol members from Minnesota and North Dakota were called to fight the floods occurring in the Fargo area. A squadron in Bemidji assisted with flood recovery efforts in the Crookston, Minn. Area.

When the governor of Minnesota declared a state of emergency, Minnesota's 23 squadrons, nearly 1,200 members and 17 light aircraft were ready to assist.

"We're constantly training our air crews and grounds team for when that call comes. We stand ready to assist local, county, state and federal emergency services providers when the need arises," Ramler said.

In 2008, Minnesota CAP members logged103 actual or training missions totaling a whopping 14,929 personnel hours, 593 air sorties and 9,120 air hours.

St. Cloud members spent much of March 26 in Fargo's Riverwood Housing Development sandbagging a low-lying area threatened by the river.

Phil McShane, who lives in the development, had plenty of praise for CAP, especially members of the cadet program.

"Who are those marvelous young people? They're polite, hardworking and their sense of community is amazing, What an example and inspiration to all of us."

Even though members of the St. Cloud Squadron were there since the beginning of recovery efforts, they could not see the entirety of the devastation unfolding in front of them, but reports from other sources were enough to motivate them.

"This was a situation where a community was in need of our support," Ramler said. "We are the Civil Air Patrol and it is our duty to support the needs of emergency providers and provide our assets to the relief effort of citizens in any way we can."

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St. Cloud Squadron members of the Civil Air Patrol, Cadets Simone Ramler and Dylan Maselter "in the line" assisting sandbagging efforts in Fargo (Photo courtesy Captain Richard Sprouse, Mission Information Officer, Fargo - Civil Air Patrol Incident Command)

Members of the St. Cloud Squadron of the CAP pose for a picture with the looming Red River in the background. The squadron supported flood relief efforts throughout the week in the Fargo-Moorhead area (Photo courtesy Captain Richard Sprouse, Mission Information Officer, Fargo - Civil Air Patrol Incident Command)

Cadet Simone Ramler of the St Cloud Composite Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol contemplates the flooding of the Red River in Fargo, ND. The squadron supported flood relief efforts throughout the week in the Fargo-Moorhead area (Photo courtesy Captain Richard Sprouse, Mission Information Officer, Fargo - Civil Air Patrol Incident Command)
 

Residents in Fargo's Riverwood Housing Development pass sandbags to strengthen a dike in their neighborhood (Photo courtesy Captain Richard Sprouse, Mission Information Officer, Fargo - Civil Air Patrol Incident Command)

A view of the rising Red River in Fargo's Riverwood Housing Development (Photo courtesy Captain Richard Sprouse, Mission Information Officer, Fargo - Civil Air Patrol Incident Command)

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