page_title: 2009 North Dakota floods
section_title: Fargo area
hierarchical_section_title: 2009 North Dakota floods / Red River / Predictions and preparations / Fargo area
caption_attribution_description: English: U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Alan Sabinash, left, and members of the 817th Engineer Company assembling sections of a HESCO collapsible barrier device in Fargo, North Dakota. Sections of the collapsible barrier were linked together and then filled with sand to create a flood barrier to block the rising waters of the Red River.
context_page_description: The US State of North Dakota experienced significant flooding in its major river basins in 2009, following abnormally heavy winter snows atop saturated and frozen ground.
context_section_description: Warnings for the 2009 flood occurred as early as March 9 when the National Weather Service warned that the Fargo-Moorhead area could see a significant flood of between 35 feet (11 m) and 36 feet (11 m). As preparations began for the flooding on March 16, North Dakota Governor John Hoeven declared a statewide disaster in anticipation of flooding across the state. On March 19, the National Weather Service raised the predicted flood level in the Fargo area to between 37 feet (11 m) and 40 feet (12 m). The city began filling sandbags on March 20. In anticipation of a rain and snow storm, the predicted crest level was raised on March 22 to a range from 39 feet (12 m) to 41 feet (12 m).
  Volunteers continued preparing sandbags, with 560,000 bags filled by late March 22 out of an expected 1.5 million to 2 million needed. By March 24, residents in Fargo-Moorhead had filled over 1 million sandbags and were attempting to fill a total of 2 million by the 26th. A levee in Georgetown, Minnesota was raised another two feet, and emergency dikes were being built in Fargo, Moorhead, Harwood, Grafton and Richland County. The predicted flood crest was raised again on March 26, changed to between 41 feet (12 m) and 42 feet (13 m) by March 28, with a possibility of 43 feet (13 m).
  In addition to the sandbags the construction of the dikes protecting the city has required large amounts of clay.  Clay has been brought from several places in and around the city, including the soccer field at Centennial Elementary School and around Discovery Middle School.
  At 7:15 P.M. CDT on March 26, 2009, the river exceeded the 1997 crest of 39.57 feet (12.06 m) at Fargo, which was the previous second-highest crest. The projected crest is 24 feet (7.3 m) above flood stage and higher than the record-setting floods in 1997 and 1897.
caption: HESCO collapsible barriers were used to prevent flooding
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