Flood fighting efforts
Dennis Walaker was a key factor that helped the Fargo area make it through the 2009 Flood of the Red River. The Fargo mayor led the area through the worst flood the city has ever seen. He spent countless hours directing flood fighting operations, giving media interviews and getting the outside help the area desperately needed. Mayor Walaker also had to try and keep the spirits of the whole city up as the crest predictions grew higher and higher.
Mayor Walaker was in charge of keeping all of Fargo's 100,000 residents safe throughout the flood. According to the Star Tribune a normal day (if you could call it that) during the flood fighting efforts consisted of the Mayor arriving at his office at 5:30 am after very few hours of sleep. Walaker had little time to get caught up on the messages through the night and by 6:00 am he was giving TV interviews to the numerous national stations that were in the Fargo area covering the flood. By 7:00 am the Fargo Mayor was in the daily briefing with government officials trying to figure out what the next steps should be. After the daily briefing there were more interviews to take care of to make sure the world knew that the Fargo area was going to beat this flood. Every once in a while the Mayor was able to have a break and drive the city inspecting the levee and dike system that he helped put in place.
Without Mayor Walakers inspirational words of encouragement at the beginning of every day the volunteer turn out may not have been as great. The total number of volunteers that put their valuable time in to fighting the Red River was close to 100,000 people. These volunteers filled more than 3.5 million sandbags that were used, along with clay dikes, to protect the city. There were a total of 52 miles of sandbag dikes and levees throughout the city and none of this would have been possible without Mayor Walaker making the right decisions. Walaker also had to coordinate with the National Guard to help place the 34 miles of clay dikes that surrounded the most critical areas of the city.The Red River finally crested at 40.82 feet on March 28th 2009, just 18 days after the initial crest prediction of 34 feet on March 10th 2009.
Mayor Walaker was in charge of keeping all of Fargo's 100,000 residents safe throughout the flood. According to the Star Tribune a normal day (if you could call it that) during the flood fighting efforts consisted of the Mayor arriving at his office at 5:30 am after very few hours of sleep. Walaker had little time to get caught up on the messages through the night and by 6:00 am he was giving TV interviews to the numerous national stations that were in the Fargo area covering the flood. By 7:00 am the Fargo Mayor was in the daily briefing with government officials trying to figure out what the next steps should be. After the daily briefing there were more interviews to take care of to make sure the world knew that the Fargo area was going to beat this flood. Every once in a while the Mayor was able to have a break and drive the city inspecting the levee and dike system that he helped put in place.
Without Mayor Walakers inspirational words of encouragement at the beginning of every day the volunteer turn out may not have been as great. The total number of volunteers that put their valuable time in to fighting the Red River was close to 100,000 people. These volunteers filled more than 3.5 million sandbags that were used, along with clay dikes, to protect the city. There were a total of 52 miles of sandbag dikes and levees throughout the city and none of this would have been possible without Mayor Walaker making the right decisions. Walaker also had to coordinate with the National Guard to help place the 34 miles of clay dikes that surrounded the most critical areas of the city.The Red River finally crested at 40.82 feet on March 28th 2009, just 18 days after the initial crest prediction of 34 feet on March 10th 2009.
