MOORHEAD FLOOD INFO: Moorhead plans volunteer sandbagging effort starting Monday

Moorhead will start its 2010 flood fight Monday with the opening of a sandbag-filling site on the north side of town the city hopes will be manned with volunteers.

The city's goal is to have 300,000 sandbags ready and waiting for a potential flood.

Moorhead will open a manual sandbagging operation Monday at a public works facility in the 700 block of 15th Avenue North.

The northside site will be open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and from noon to 6 p.m. on Sundays.

The city is asking volunteers to work at the northside site until the southside sandbagging facility can be set up using automated equipment, though that location, too, will need volunteers.

Moorhead plans to spend up to $550,000 out of city reserves to prepare for and battle a flood.

About $34,000 of that amount will be spent on a 12-chute “spider” machine that can fill 5,000 sandbags an hour.

It may take two or three weeks for the machine to arrive and get set up at a public works facility near 29th Avenue and 41st Street South in Moorhead.

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