HomeNewsArticle Display

FLOOD NEWS: North Dakota National Guard Flood Operations End

By SSGT Amy Wieser Willson, North Dakota National Guard / Published April 01, 2010

PRINT | E-MAIL
Bismarck, N.D. -- The North Dakota National Guard will end 2010 flood operations today, as the remaining members of a Cass County quick response force team complete their out-processing. Gov. John Hoeven activated the Guard on March 15 to respond to the flood threat, which was especially prevalent in southeastern North Dakota.

"Once again, our National Guard members have done an outstanding job of serving and protecting our communities and our citizens," Hoeven said. "In locations across the state, Guard members were there, ready and prepared to assist with spring flooding emergencies. From rapid response to vehicle recoveries to walking dikes at night, our Guard members played an important role in North Dakota's flood fight and contributed to the success of those efforts."

During the 18 days that Guardsmen served this year, about 58,800 individual hours were dedicated to flood operations by about 750 Airmen and Soldiers. During that time, Guardsmen served in a variety of roles, including sandbagging, manning traffic control points, patrolling dikes, responding to emergencies from strategically positioned quick reaction force teams and providing coordination and operational support for Guardsmen alongside city, county and state leaders.

"The North Dakota National Guard is the first military responder to any type of natural disaster or emergency. We train and prepare side-by-side with state and community organizations and individuals to ensure smooth, seamless operations, and that certainly paid off. Everyone worked well together, and that's a big part of why this ended so successfully," said Maj. Gen. David Sprynczynatyk, North Dakota adjutant general. "I am extremely proud of our Airmen, our Soldiers, our Families and our employers. Each plays a huge role in the success we all enjoy when the North Dakota National Guard is called to duty, whether it's at home or abroad."

Planning for potential flooding began about four months ago, when meetings and exercises began to help Guardsmen prepare. They also looked at lessons learned from the 2009 flood fight, which saw more than four times as many Guardsmen on duty for about five times as long.

"You learned a lot last year in the 2009 flood. It looks to me like everything in the 2010 timeframe is running very efficiently and very effectively," said Gen. Craig McKinley, chief of the National Guard Bureau, during his March 22 visit to Fargo .

While flooding was more widespread last year, much of it was confined to southeastern North Dakota this year, with the bulk of the Guard's time and resources going to assist Cass County.

"Here's a perfect example of the partnership we have with the Guard," said Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney after a vehicle recovery mission coordinated between his office and the National Guard in late March. "We respond together, we're dealing with all of these events together."

In Fargo, the Red River crested at 36.99 feet on March 21, the seventh highest level ever recorded since tracking began in the late 1800s. The planning and preparation put in to this year's effort by numerous agencies severely reduced the catastrophe such a water level could have caused.

Even after Guardsmen safely ended their mission in Fargo, quick response force teams remained active in areas just outside of town -- Harwood to the north and Kindred to the south. The teams helped build and reinforce sandbag levees and clay dikes when emergency calls came in. They also helped evacuate an elderly woman from her home near Harwood and carried small farm animals to safety.

Throughout the entire flood operation, Guardsmen served in support roles, as well. For 24 hours a day, they worked as liaison officers, provided logistical and communications support, helped with administrative areas, produced media products to tell the story, and managed missions and troop levels.

"The men and women of the North Dakota National Guard really did a spectacular job serving their state and communities during this year's flood operations," said Col. Ron Solberg, who led the Guard's flood 2010 operations in the southeastern part of the state. "Everyone put in long days to get the job done, but their spirits and energy were great. Their hard work and the partnerships we have with our communities and counties really contributed to this mission being as successful as it was."

Although the flood mission officially ends today, about 10 Guardsmen will remain on duty for necessary clean-up and transport missions to ensure all Guard equipment is ready and positioned for any future potential mission. Additionally, the North Dakota National Guard continues to monitor the flood potential across the state since many areas remain saturated, and there is always the possibility of heavy spring rainfall.

"No matter what may happen, the North Dakota National Guard is always ready to respond to any type of disaster," Sprynczynatyk said.


2010 Flood Operations By the Numbers

· 4 months planning, preparing and practicing, including two flood exercises based on lessons learned from the 2009 flood

· 18 total days spent on flood operations in 2010 (March 15 through April 1)

· 4,900 days served by Guardsmen on flood operations, or about 58,800 hours

· 790 personnel, the most on duty during any given day of flood 2010 operations; this included 731 North Dakota National Guard Airmen and Soldiers, 34 personnel helping through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC), 16 U.S. Coast Guard members, 6 temporary state employees and 3 aviation personnel from the National Guard Bureau

-64.3 hours flown in support of flood operations
-20 missions over 49.2 hours in a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter
-3 missions over 4.8 hours in a CH-47 Chinook helicopter
-1 mission for 2.4 hours in a OH-58 Kiowa helicopter
- 5 missions over 7.9 hours in a C-12 turboprop aircraft

· More than 1.47 billion (yes, with a "B") people in a combined potential audience of videos, stories and photos distributed through DVIDS (Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System) via the North Dakota National Guard

· 187,503 impressions on flood-related postings at www.facebook.com/NDNationalGuard (as of noon Tuesday, March 30)

· 1,324 media outlets requested, received or used flood-related photos, video or stories from the North Dakota National Guard's Public Affairs Offices

· 293,040 impressions (per DMA calculations) on flood-related postings sent by www.twitter.com/NDNationalGuard (as of noon yesterday)

· 12,673 views of flood photos loaded to www.flickr.com/photos/NDGuard (as of noon yesterday)

· 29 flood-related videos in the 2010 Flood Fight Playlist at www.youtube.com/NDNationalGuard, which garnered 1,578 views (as of noon yesterday)

For a by-day, by-county breakdown of the North Dakota National Guard's 2010 flood response, please see our 2010 Flood Fact Sheet posted at http://ndngflood2010.wikispaces.com.
-30-

USAF Comments Policy
If you wish to comment, use the text box below. AF reserves the right to modify this policy at any time.

This is a moderated forum. That means all comments will be reviewed before posting. In addition, we expect that participants will treat each other, as well as our agency and our employees, with respect. We will not post comments that contain abusive or vulgar language, spam, hate speech, personal attacks, violate EEO policy, are offensive to other or similar content. We will not post comments that are spam, are clearly "off topic", promote services or products, infringe copyright protected material, or contain any links that don't contribute to the discussion. Comments that make unsupported accusations will also not be posted. The AF and the AF alone will make a determination as to which comments will be posted. Any references to commercial entities, products, services, or other non-governmental organizations or individuals that remain on the site are provided solely for the information of individuals using this page. These references are not intended to reflect the opinion of the AF, DoD, the United States, or its officers or employees concerning the significance, priority, or importance to be given the referenced entity, product, service, or organization. Such references are not an official or personal endorsement of any product, person, or service, and may not be quoted or reproduced for the purpose of stating or implying AF endorsement or approval of any product, person, or service.

Any comments that report criminal activity including: suicidal behaviour or sexual assault will be reported to appropriate authorities including OSI. This forum is not:

  • This forum is not to be used to report criminal activity. If you have information for law enforcement, please contact OSI or your local police agency.
  • Do not submit unsolicited proposals, or other business ideas or inquiries to this forum. This site is not to be used for contracting or commercial business.
  • This forum may not be used for the submission of any claim, demand, informal or formal complaint, or any other form of legal and/or administrative notice or process, or for the exhaustion of any legal and/or administrative remedy.

AF does not guarantee or warrant that any information posted by individuals on this forum is correct, and disclaims any liability for any loss or damage resulting from reliance on any such information. AF may not be able to verify, does not warrant or guarantee, and assumes no liability for anything posted on this website by any other person. AF does not endorse, support or otherwise promote any private or commercial entity or the information, products or services contained on those websites that may be reached through links on our website.

Members of the media are asked to send questions to the public affairs through their normal channels and to refrain from submitting questions here as comments. Reporter questions will not be posted. We recognize that the Web is a 24/7 medium, and your comments are welcome at any time. However, given the need to manage federal resources, moderating and posting of comments will occur during regular business hours Monday through Friday. Comments submitted after hours or on weekends will be read and posted as early as possible; in most cases, this means the next business day.

For the benefit of robust discussion, we ask that comments remain "on-topic." This means that comments will be posted only as it relates to the topic that is being discussed within the blog post. The views expressed on the site by non-federal commentators do not necessarily reflect the official views of the AF or the Federal Government.

To protect your own privacy and the privacy of others, please do not include personally identifiable information, such as name, Social Security number, DoD ID number, OSI Case number, phone numbers or email addresses in the body of your comment. If you do voluntarily include personally identifiable information in your comment, such as your name, that comment may or may not be posted on the page. If your comment is posted, your name will not be redacted or removed. In no circumstances will comments be posted that contain Social Security numbers, DoD ID numbers, OSI case numbers, addresses, email address or phone numbers. The default for the posting of comments is "anonymous", but if you opt not to, any information, including your login name, may be displayed on our site.

Thank you for taking the time to read this comment policy. We encourage your participation in our discussion and look forward to an active exchange of ideas.