Flood and Blizzard Disaster, Spring 2009

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: SITUATION: Flooding and blizzards occurring simultaneously in several areas of North Dakota this spring have caused a presidential disaster declaration for most of the state. Parts of the North Dakota exceeded record snowfalls in with accumulations of up to 500 percent of their average. The water the snow yielded continues to cause extensive property damage, displacement of families, economic hardship for businesses, and death to livestock. Preliminary estimates of livestock losses are 19,000 adult/yearling cattle and 72,000 calves. An estimate of homes and other buildings lost to flood water is not yet available. While the major flood event of the Red River Valley in 1997 better prepared us to respond to people's needs in this current disaster, it is taking a tremendous amount of resources-people and materials-to reach as far and as wide as we need to this time to educate on flood prevention and recovery efforts, and to assist producers with livestock feed, hypothermia and carcass disposal issues. OUTCOMES: As National Guard units, city engineers and volunteers scrambled to build sandbag dikes to hold back the rising flood waters, eyes and ears turned to the Internet, newspaper and radio to get instructions on next steps. Publications were quickly updated and posted, and four audio and video PSAs were added to the NDSU Extension Service flood Web site (www.ag.ndsu.edu/disaster/flood.html). Quarter-page display ads related to flood preparation and clean up ran in the major newspapers. Our "Sandbagging for Flood Protection" publication is being widely used. "Cleaning Your Flooded or Water-Damaged Home," "Dry Out before Rebuilding" and "A Flood of Emotions" fact-sheets were sent in bulk to county Extension offices for distribution at emergency shelters, post offices, grocery stores and other high-traffic areas. Videos titled, "Building a Sandbag Dike," "How to Plug Drains/Pull Toilets," "How to Use a Moisture Meter," and flood clean-up videos originated by Kansas State University were posted on YouTube and the NDSU Extension Service flood Web site. Targeted PSAs have since been created to get at issues of water and well contamination, drying out water-damaged structures, identifying what can and cannot be salvaged, food safety, emotional stress and others. County agents are hand-delivering educational materials and directly managing a number of volunteer efforts. Extension specialists are working in concert with our agriculture communication staff to ensure that the agents have ready access to the scope of publications, fact sheets, and short videos the public needs. To fight mold growth in homes, people must first clean then get rid of the moisture before any rebuilding is done. Twenty-five additional moisture meters have been purchased and placed in the Extension offices in counties that haven't before experience flooding. Extension agents continue to work closely with the FSA, soil conservation districts, NRCS, county commissions, the state veterinarian and county emergency management boards to make sure residents receive assistance and information about governmental programs that can help them.

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APPROACH: While publications were quickly updated and posted, and four audio and video PSAs were added to the NDSU Extension Service flood Web site (www.ag.ndsu.edu/disaster/flood.html), quarter-page display ads related to flood preparation and clean up ran in the Fargo, Grand Forks and Bismarck newspapers. The emphasis for these initial efforts was prevention. The links on our flood Web site provided access to additional information from other universities and organizations such as EDEN, eXtension and American Red Cross. Our "Sandbagging for Flood Protection" publication is being widely used. "Cleaning Your Flooded or Water-Damaged Home," "Dry Out before Rebuilding" and "A Flood of Emotions" fact-sheets were sent in bulk to county Extension offices for distribution at emergency shelters, post offices, grocery stores and other high-traffic areas. Videos titled, "Building a Sandbag Dike," "How to Plug Drains/Pull Toilets," "How to Use a Moisture Meter," and flood clean-up videos originated by Kansas State University were posted on YouTube and the NDSU Extension Service flood Web site. Additional targeted audio and video PSAs have since been created to get at issues of water and well contamination, drying out water-damaged structures, identifying what can be salvaged and what cannot, food safety, emotional stress and others. The electronic media specialists in Agriculture Communication were called upon by the NDSU University Relations office and USDA partner agencies to take video footage and aerial photography to document the severity of the home, business and agricultural situations in many parts of the state. To address the needs of farmers, ranchers, and homeowners, county Extension agents are hand-delivering educational materials, providing educational programming, and directly managing volunteer efforts. Extension specialists are working with our communication staff to ensure the agents have ready access to the publications, fact sheets and short videos the public needs during the many stages of disaster prevention and recovery. With only one full-time and one part-time agent each, the Extension offices in Grant and Emmons counties are short-staffed to handle the current workload. All four agents, along with clerical staff, have been working from early morning until late evening on volunteer management and disaster response. To account for the extra hours, the part-time positions have been made full time for at least the next couple of months. To fight mold growth in homes, people must first clean then get rid of the moisture before any rebuilding is done. Twenty-five additional moisture meters have been purchased and placed in the Extension offices in counties that haven't before experience flooding. Frequent communication has been instrumental to effective reporting and coordination efforts. NDSU Extension administration has been host to weekly conference calls since mid March with participation growing as flooding and its effects become more wide-spread. Extension agents continue to work closely with partner agencies to make sure residents receive assistance and information about governmental programs that can help them.