We spent a week in the rain, building dikes, one sand bag at a time.
When it was over, the sound of back-up alarms was everywhere. I asked a friend what the racket was about and was told they were removing the dikes we'd built.
When I asked "Aren't they going to make the flood infrastructure permanent?", I was told that it blocked the view of the river. That was the third highest crest on record, the '93(?) flood was worse.
I guess they finally learned.
The flood to end all floods (ha) was in ‘98.
I was there in ‘79 too, attending UND. I guess you and I must have been students there at the same time?
My brother and his family lived along the English Coulee and their house was badly damaged.
I helped sandbag in ‘79 and I remember a Saturday morning when things were under control and for some reason I was strolling across the empty campus, just kind of trying to unkink a little.
I happened to walk past the law school and suddenly recalled that I had been scheduled to take the LSAT exam that weekend. What the hell, I thought, I’ll catch it next time.
Never did, to the eternal gratitude of the legal profession and myself as well.