Water, water everywhere

 

A look at the Davenport elevator from two and a half miles south of the city. While the view appears that a lake is located outside of the town, it is actually flood waters that have taken over farm land and added about six inches of water to the land.

By Amanda Gades 

    Two and a half miles south of Davenport, fields that once grew corn are now flooded with at least six inches of water. On the outskirts of Kindred, County Road 46 on the south side has gone under and farm land looks like lakes. Walcott is also overwhelmed by water which has washed out Richland County Road 26. Sandbags guard homes west of Davenport and around homes along the Sheyenne River. Indeed, portions of rural Cass County are still wading through the water and hoping that the Sheyenne River continues to recede. But, this area is not yet ready to wrap up flood efforts. 

On alert

Davenport firefighters have focused their time for the past month on keeping the water from overtaking homes and property. 

“We’ve laid 60,000 sandbags,” said Matt Palluck, assistant fire chief and communications coordinator for the flood fight. “Everything went as good if not better than anticipated. Neighbors are helping neighbors.”  

Davenport Fire Chief and incident commander Jeff Korol has taken vacation from work and so has Palluck, along with other firefighters. Something that they were willing to do to ensure the safety of their town. 

    “It’s amazing how well people have worked together,” Korol said.

Palluck added that the situation is looking good overall right now. 

“The dikes are holding and all the sandbags around farmsteads are holding,” Palluck said. “Everything we’ve done is doing what it’s supposed to do.”  

    But, the work is not over quite yet.

    “We are just waiting for the water to go down,” Korol said. “Then, we will be removing the dikes and sandbags. I’m not sure on a timeline for that yet.” 

One place that they sandbagged was a fellow Davenport firefighter Wayne Flom, who lives just south of Davenport. While Flom does not raise crops, he does have horses, and to ensure their safety had them temporary moved to a friends in the Leonard area. 

Monitoring the roads

   Cass County Deputy Jeff Arth is going into his second month of the flood fight. Typically at the Cass County Jail, Arth was activated for duty on March 24. 

    “Sheriff Laney already had teams set up to fight the flood if deputies would be needed,” Arth said. 

    Arth has been on patrol throughout the county, including in the Kindred and Davenport area. 

     “Road conditions change on a daily basis,” Arth said. 

   Many residents in that area have stepped up and sandbagged for neighbors and businesses, some of which are in areas that have not seen flood waters before. 

“The way the overland flooding has been this year, no one knows what direction it is going to take,” Arth said. 

Speeding over the cornstalks     

    The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was called for assistance on March 23 by the Cass County Sheriff’s Office. 

Their work in the area spanned throughout Cass County and consisted of assisting the sheriff’s office with search and rescue, welfare checks, delivery of supplies and assisting with evacuations of residents who wished to leave their home, explained U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refuge officer Clay Ronnish. 

Last week, three of their air boats were docked on farmland two and a half miles south of Davenport off of Highway 27. 

“I thought the work went very well,” Ronish said. “We worked with the other federal partners very effectively.” 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife staff who answered the call for assistance during the past month are based out of several states, including Wisconsin, Minnesota, Montana, South Dakota, Kansas and North Dakota.  

The staff left the area on April 19, according to Ronish. 

Along with the farm land and homes, one thing that can be seen from the waters is a crane near the railroad. 

“One of the culverts is starting to erode where the railroad track crosses drain 34,” said Rich Seig, Cass County Highway Superintendent. “A sheet pile dam has been created to control water flowing east of Davenport. We want to make sure that the water stays west of Davenport in the protected area.”