FARGO - A permanent solution is key in eliminating local communities' yearly dash for flood preparations, a sentiment echoed by many at a meeting this morning between federal and local officials.
"I would like to leave the office I currently hold in three years with a (permanent) project under construction," Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker told Sen. John Hoeven, Rep. Rick Berg and local officials from Fargo, Moorhead, Cass and Clay counties this morning.
Local flood preparations have been under way since National Weather Service began releasing outlooks predicting the third consecutive year of record flooding.
Leaders are asking the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for help in building temporary levees and protection.
Maj. Gen. Michael Walsh, corps commander of the Mississippi Valley Division, is key in not only this year's flood preparations but in securing a Red River diversion project, Hoeven said.
ADVERTISEMENT
"It's important that you're here because we need people in Washington, D.C., to help us make darn sure that we get a permanent project," Hoeven told Walsh this morning.
Hoeven also said contingency plans for emergency measures should be in place with the looming threat of a March 4 government shutdown because of a federal budget impasse.
"There is no intention from my perspective to have that impact the emergency work that needs to be done," Berg said.
The group is taking a tour of Fargo-Moorhead areas that have a high potential for requiring emergency flood measures.
The Metro Flood Study Work Group will meet at 3:30 this afternoon to get a corps update on the latest diversion information.
For more on this story, read Friday's Forum
