Emergency management, Midwest style

Posted at 2:36 PM on June 27, 2011 by Dan Gunderson
Filed under: Flooding

The flooding and evacuation of Minot is a tragic situation for thousands. And like always, the response to disaster seems to puzzle people who live elsewhere.

Would you trust a stranger who backed into your driveway and offered to haul your worldly possessions to high ground? Lots of people along the Souris River apparently did.

I noted this recently in the comment section of a CNN report about the evacuation in Minot, "now the looting begins."

I haven't heard any reports of looting as yet.

But I did chuckle when I read a recent report from the emergency manager in Velva, N.D. Velva is a town of about 1,000 located in the Souris River Valley.
At the end of a report about frantic efforts to mount clay levee and sandbag defenses and fix broken water mains was this paragraph.

"Velva Fresh Foods and the Souris Valley Care Center are providing meals for the contractors and National Guard. Cookies and bars are needed. If possible, please package 2-3 cookies or non-crumbling bars in plastic bags and deliver to Cenex C-Store today (Sunday) between 1:00 - 1:30 pm. "

Now that's emergency management, Midwest style!