Update

It's been a crazy week up here. Most of you have probably heard about the flood situation in Fargo/Moorhead on the news lately, so I figured I'd give an update on what's going on.
When we started hearing that the river could top 1997 flood levels, we were able to find on Moorhead's website what the different flood stages would look like in our neighborhood. We shouldn't have to worry about the river actually reaching our house until it gets up to 42 feet.
The river was forecast last week to crest up to 40' in F/M around April 1st. As the waters started creeping up, sandbagging started all around the city. The city of Fargo has "Sandbag U" where they've got a couple of giant machines that disperse sand into multiple sandbags at one time. So they began on Friday asking for volunteers to check in at the Fargodome, and they were bussed to Sandbag U to fill sandbags. I heard they need about 60 people at a time to keep the machines running. From there, the bags are sent by the truck load out to different parts of town that need it the most.
On Saturday, Josh and I went out to do our part to sandbag. Since we're on the Moorhead side of the river, we checked in at MSUM and were bussed out to a property just south of Moorhead. Along with about 12 other people, we arrived to a giant pile of sand in the family's driveway. Their home was right on the river. The homeowner greeted us and thanked us all for coming out to help him. Then we got to work. Josh and I took turns shoveling sand and holding the sandbags open. The two of us filled about 200 in the couple hours that we were able to be there. They needed to build a dike all around the home. In the 1997 flood, the river filled up the home's basement almost all the way to the ceiling. The previous homeowners changed the landscape to help that, but still, many sandbags were needed.
On Sunday, we bought a back-up sump pump. Ours is working fine so far, but it will be crucial to have one ready to go in case it fails. We also shoveled the huge piles of snow away from our house.
Monday my work was let out at noon so we could all go sandbagging. I spent the afternoon sandbagging in south Moorhead. All of the colleges in the area let their students out to sandbag. There were many high school students out there as well. Monday night we went to Macs to get drain plugs for our basement. The truck load came at 6pm and the store was totally packed, with a line all the way to the back. We were able to get there early, so we got out of there in about half an hour. Monday night Josh plugged all of the drains to the basement, and we realized they told us the wrong size plug for the toilet.
Tuesday morning most high schools and colleges in the area were cancelled to let students sandbag once again. My work was cancelled as well. They are now predicting the river to crest as early as Friday, up to 41 feet. Now people are scrambling to build their sandbag dikes even higher. This time I just walked down the street to another sandbagging station in my neighborhood and worked there for the morning. (Side note: It's never reassuring to see the National Guard and the Red Cross working in your neighborhood.) Then I had to go back to Macs when the next truckload came in to try to get the right size plug. I finally got the plug. Josh went to install it, but, it still was not the right size. So, used his MacGyver-like skills to make it work. For our laundry room floor drain and our toilet drain, we have plugs in there that are held tight with 2x4s attached at the ceiling. These drains are there in case the sewers back up. The 2x4s will keep the drains from exploding sewage all over the place.
This morning the river was at 35 feet. We also have recieved at least 4 inches of snow since last night. Not a good combination. Most schools are cancelled today. The roads are horrible... full of snow and very slippery. Plows aren't coming around because everyone is too busy building dikes. My work opened at 10am. I think this morning's drive has been the worst of the whole winter. Yesterday it felt really nice outside at about 55 degrees. The snow was almost totally gone. Today it's freezing and there's at least another 4 inches. We're supposed to get up to 8 inches by this afternoon.

So... we are still dry so far. In order to stay dry, we need our sump pump to keep working, we need the sewers not to back up, and we need the river to stay under 42 feet.

I'll try to keep some updates going as the week progresses.