Heavy snow and difficult travel expected again, heaviest snow in southern Minnesota

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

A city building dubbed Sandbag Central will soon be open for business as Fargo leaders prepare for spring flooding along the Red River, the city administrator said Monday night.

Bruce Grubb told city commissioners of plans to fill 250,000 sandbags in order to protect the city to 41 feet, which would be 23 feet over flood stage. The latest outlook from the National Weather Service shows a 10 percent probability that the river will reach 39 feet in the Fargo and Moorhead, Minn. area.

 reported that Grubb called the chance of a severe flood “a flip of the coin" and added that the city would rather “err on the side of caution.” Volunteers filled hundreds of thousands of sandbags last year for anticipated flooding that never materialized.

Sandbag Central is located in a building that is normally a parking garage for garbage trucks. Plans are to begin sandbag operations on March 10.

Depending on the weather in the next several weeks, it’s possible Fargo could see “high water” on the Red River as soon as the middle of March, according to assistant city engineer Nathan Boerboom.

The weather service plans to update its flood outlook on Thursday.

Minnesota News

Greater Minnesota

Floods

Spring 2019 flooding in Minnesota

The Associated Press

Author

A city building dubbed Sandbag Central will soon be open for business as Fargo leaders prepare for spring flooding along the Red River.

Fargo to begin filling sandbags in case of Red River flood

Go Deeper.

Like this?