Month: March 2009

Ok, just got home from Fargo North Dakota after spending pretty much the better part of this week up there to cover the flooding.  The river has crested per the forecast but the area is still on high alert for any problems or leaks that may start. 

Here is the latest river forecast that shows the highest river levels have past and I’m pretty burned out and needed a day off to get some clean clothes and get ready for the blizzard that might be hitting the area in the next couple of days. 

Here was the forecast for the river tonight.

Now the long range forecasts shows that the ice is going to start getting thicker on the water that is in the fields south of the Fargo / Moorhead area.  I was filming in Moorhead today (will post that footage tomorrow after I get some rest) and I was also location scouting sout of Fargo near Oxbow.  The water did come up a couple of feet from when I was filming the air-boats on Thursday but it has gone back down into the fields.  But when it flooded Highway 81, it left about six to eight inches of frozen ice on the road that needs to melt off or get plowed off. 

Here are some quick photos before I go. 

Here is a hazard sign with a sheet of ice on it that is above the water that gives you an idea about how much the water has fallen in this area.

This next photo is of residents in Moorhead, MN fighting in the trenches to battle the water.

Moorhead Resident watches the Red River invade her back yard.

Everyone up here is wondering is this it?

Yesterday the Red River got up to almost 42 feet and set a record at 40.82 feet and has fallen just over an inch during the overnight hours.  So much is happening and so little time to update. 

Here is the first video I shot yesterday.

I did not get a chance to post this video that I sent in as part two of the levee starting to fail at the Country Club in Moorhead. 

I was filming the house of Creek Kuser, yes, his real name, and he was really great to talk to and even brought me into his home to show me what the back yard looked like with the massive flooding just feet from the house. 

Ok, time to wrap up and get back out filming in the 10F temps…  At least the cold is slowing the river and it might not end up being a frozen katrina…

Today I was out chasing with Eric Whitehill around the Fargo, ND and Moorhead, MN area.

We started out in the Briarwood area just to the south of Fargo.

As we were heading back towards the downtown area to cover the flooding, several State Troopers flew past us at a high rate of speed and shut down Interstate 94.  Even the US Boarder Patrol was on the scene to help out.

We ended up in Moorhead, MN and documented the insane flooding round the mall.

The size and scope of the flooding up in the Fargo, ND and Moorhead, MN area is just incredible.

This is some of the footage I shot after talking with the local EOC office in Clay County. I shot a package for TWC and was going to wrap up the shoot when I went to go explore the area around the Moorhead Country Club when I saw some people running down a street. They said that their neighborhood watch was seeing some water starting to come through the levee.

By the time I got to the location which is IN the golf course, there was at least five levee failure points with one of them looking like Minnehaha Creek in the summer time when the water is low.

After shooting a few minutes of footage, I had to hike about 100 yards back through the deep snow to get back to my truck and then went and talked to the nearest cop and National Guard check point that was being setup (after I got in the location) and showed them the footage. I was asked to go back to the EOC office where I showed the Guard Commander and FEMA and some other gov folks the footage. They had a look of Oh Crap on their faces.

Today I’m around the town of Oxbow, ND and documenting the flooding up here that is just insane.  The people are scared and the wildlife is freaking out.  I uploaded some more images and the crazy one has got to be the Deer trying to swim across the Red River to get away from the air-boats that were out in the flood water to rescue people that were trapped by the rising waters.

Here is the video from today and some of the images.  The air-boat footage is pretty insane!!!  None of the local or national media photographers got anything like this since most of them were watching sand bagers or doing interviews.

Check out the Deer, I thought for sure they were going to get washed away but they made it across the river.

Here are the images that I shot today.

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I’m in Fargo for now but I’m not stuck here, I can get out on 94 but Interstate 29 is closed off to traffic due to the Wild Rice River flowing over it.  Interstate 94 is closed off west of here as well and the area is being cut off.  Almost all the roads in Richland County are flooded or washed out west of the red river to Interstate 29. 

The water is rising and you can’t get up here unless your coming up Interstate 94 and I don’t know what the Buffalo river is looking like since I could not make it over there today. 

Here is the video from today that I shot for the networks.

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Okay, just a quick update from the field.  I’m in Fargo, ND right now and just feeding off footage of the flooding that I shot today.  The flooding up here is getting worse and there is rain forecasted for Monday. 

I’m just wrapping up and going to head back home for the night but I wanted to upload a few screen grabs.  I already filled 4 memory cards in my still camera today and over an hour of stock footage, and the main show has not even started. 

Here is a screen grab from the video of the flood gauge on the Buffalo river that is flooded out with massive ice blocks from the Ice Jam smashed up against it.

Here are the images from today.

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Headed north on I94 today and into the eye of the blizzard. 

BULLETIN – IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
CIVIL EMERGENCY MESSAGE
NORTH DAKOTA STATE PATROL
RELAYED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND
1152 AM CDT TUE MAR 10 2009

THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE IS TRANSMITTED AT THE REQUEST OF THE NORTH
DAKOTA STATE HIGHWAY PATROL.

NO TRAVEL IS ADVISED ON INTERSTATE 29 FROM GRAND FORKS SOUTH TO
THE SOUTH DAKOTA BORDER UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

The above map shows where I am and where the weather is going to be.  I’m all geared up and just have to put the cameras and computer in the truck and head out but which way?  I could head towards the cities and work on one project or head out west for blizzard footage but in the middle of farm country. 

Or the other option, stay home and work on stuff from home and head out when it gets closer to home.

I know TWC has a double crew up in Duluth so there is no reason to head up that way to film plus if the forecast for northern Minnesota is right, that area will be getting hit hard with a lot of snow and you won’t be able to get in or out of there for a few days.  I’m going to make the call in about an hour for which way to head out. 

Yeah, I know I have been slacking on updating the blog but I have been super busy with video editing for the new BNVN site. 

I’m going to be taking a break from that work to get back to shooting footage this week of a major winter storm to hit Minnesota.  This is going to be one of the bigger storms to hit the area from Saint Cloud to Fargo. 

So what else have I been up to?  Nothing really except for sitting in the office and working on footage stuff and drinking lots of coffee.  Today I’m hoping that I can setup the last of the final batch of video’s for the new site and then get working on databases and layout this week.