The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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March 26, 2009

Locals help in flood zone

Civil Air Patrol helps with sandbagging

By Brian Ojanpa

Jon Macemon and seven fellow members of the Mankato Squadron of the Minnesota Wing Civil Air Patrol arrived in Fargo about noon Thursday.

“We hit the ground running and we haven’t stopped since,” Macemon said late Thursday afternoon after helping to sandbag a levee.

The 20-year-old Macemon, a student at South Central College in North Mankato, said the levee reinforcement effort was successful, just beating the rising flow of water.

Meantime, Fargo-area weather continues to dish out a beating.

“It’s really cold and really windy, but people are hopeful. They’re working really hard to save their homes.”

Macemon said the squadron’s lodging place that night was uncertain.

“We’ll be in a church or a gymnasium. All we want is a roof and hot shower and we’re happy.”

Civil Air Patrol members from Minnesota and North Dakota have been engaged in disaster-relief operations all week. Civil Air Patrol is the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force.

The Fargo ordeal’s challenges have begun to take a serious mental toll on residents and first responders, said Mankato Red Cross volunteer mental health worker Walter Roberts, who arrived in Fargo Wednesday.

“It’s a matter of physical and emotional fatigue, and it’s clearly beginning to set in. Mother Nature is not being kind right now, and she’s not backing off,” said Roberts, a Minnesota State University professor of counselor education.

Roberts and his volunteer colleagues are working with people in shelters and supporting emergency responders who have been working around the clock for days.

“We’ve made several visits to flooded areas outside Fargo. A lot of small communities are really fighting,” Roberts said.

“It’s truly an epic struggle to hold back tributaries trying to get into the Red River. It’s almost surreal — dense snowpack, miles and miles of water, and ice.”

Roberts said the oft-changing predictions of what the crest will be and when it will occur are causing particular stress.

“There was a tremendous amount of hope and energy starting out, but it’s cold and demoralizing and the realities are setting in.”

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