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Published April 20, 2009, 12:00 AM

Jamestown area flooding March 23-April 19, 2009


Firetrucks pumping water from flooded area near Anne Carlsen Center. Culvert was believed to be frozen but was later found to be full of debris.

  • Firetrucks pumping water from flooded area near Anne Carlsen Center. Culvert was believed to be frozen but was later found to be full of debris.
  • Sandbagging at Anne Carlsen Center
  • Water over the road on HWY 281 north of Jamestown.
  • Water over the road at Buchanan, N.D.
  • Overland flooding in Buchanan, N.D. Frozen culverts were primary problems.
  • Water over the road just south of Jamestown, near Walmart.
  • Water on I-94 west of Jamestown.
  • Sandbagging at Anne Carlsen Center.
  • Flooding in Montpelier, N.D.
  • Flooding in Montpelier, N.D.
  • Flooding in Adrian, N.D.
  • Flooding James River near Montpelier.
  • Flooded home in Adrian, N.D.
  • The James River was up to the bottom of the deck in Adrian.
  • Water receeded a bit leaving ice on road south of Adrian, N.D.
  • Volunteers begin building sandbag filling stations.
  • A federal medical facility was set up at the Larson Center on the campus of Jamestown College.
  • Earthen dike work begins in Jamestown. These original dikes were built to handle flows of about 2,400 cfs from the Jamestown and Pipestem Reservoirs.
  • Dikes placed on roadways reducing traffic to one lane. Nickeus Park area.
  • Volunteers get briefed at a temporary pet shelter in Jamestown.
  • Another late snow storm dumps 14-19 inches in the Jamestown area after the initial flooding begins.
  • More snow to add to the flood zone.
  • People begin sandbagging in freezing temperatures.
  • The first of many loads of sand is delivered to the Jamestown Civic Center. Sandbag filling began inside the center due to freezing temperatures. Filled sandbags had to be hauled to warm facilities to prevent them from freezing.
  • Jamestown High School students were the first group to fill sandbags. Filling operations were going from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. in three-six hour shifts.
  • Sand and students filling bags.
  • Inmates at the James River Correctional Center in Jamestown helped out by filling some 10,000 sandbags per day.
  • Temperatures started to rise again allowing area residents to have fun on April Fool's Day.
  • Jamestown College students and faculty to the rescue of filling sandbags. For many days, classes were cancelled so students could help with the flood fight.
  • Jamestown College student placing sandbags on pallets.
  • Area residents helping at Sandbag Central.
  • The first round of laying sandbag dikes in Jamestown.
  • It takes many sandbags to build a safe wall.
  • Many volunteers showed up to help place the sandbag levees.
  • The marking gauge at Pipestem Reservoir early on in the rising level.
  • A high school student loading a pallet from a mountain of sandbags. At times there were not enough pallets to volunteers had to stack the bags on the floor.
  • Pallets of sandbags inside the Civic Center getting loaded onto trailers.
  • An earthen dike nearly covering the boat house at Arrowwood National Wildlife Refuge.
  • Water is over many roads across the region.
  • Dike building in Valley City.
  • A sandbag dike near a walking bridge spanning the rising Sheyenne River in Valley City.
  • An earthen dike on Main Street in Valley City. The City Park is flooded in the background.
  • Sandbagging operation along the rising James River in Adrian, N.D.
  • A crew working on building a levee along the James River in Adrian.
  • A sandbagging crew works to save a home in Montpelier, N.D.
  • A sandbagging operation in Montpelier, N.D. An aerial photo of this farm to follow.
  • A bridge jamming up with debris at the Jamestown Country Club.
  • Overland flooding in southwest Jamestown. This area is high above the valley.
  • Water flowing to a sewer drain in southwest Jamestown.
  • People looking at some flooding in Valley City, N.D., where the Sheyenne River is causing problems.
  • In the basement of a Valley City home with flood water and behind the sandbag wall. The water level on the other side of the levee was about 5-6 feet above the basement floor.
  • The Viking Bridge is submerged in Valley City, N.D.
  • The Main Street levee and the Elks Building in downtown Valley City, N.D.
  • More overland flooding in southwest Jamestown. This area is west of Louis L'Amour School.
  • Overland flooding in southwest Jamestown.
  • A man works at saving his house from overland flooding in southwest Jamestown.
  • A flooded entrance to a farmstead on HWY 1 southwest of Valley City.
  • The James River south of LaMoure, N.D., surrounding a farm. One day later the road and farm were overtaken by the flood water.
  • The wide James River at LaMoure, N.D.
  • The James River flowing over HWY 35 near Dickey, N.D.
  • The Dickey Bridge underwater by the flooding James River.
  • A mailbox near the entry way of a farm in the James River Valley in Dickey, N.D.
  • A flooded home and farmstead in Dickey, N.D.
  • Flooded cars from a salvage yard in Dickey, N.D.
  • A couple walking on a wet railroad looking at their home north of Dickey, N.D.
  • Several roads and bridges are under water in the James River Valley. This one is north of Dickey, N.D.
  • A flooded home and farmstead north of Dickey, N.D. An aerial photo to follow.
  • The Jamestown Reservoir near the marina and the Lit'l Britches Fishing Pond.
  • An area view of overland flooding in the Jamestown region. This is a common scene from the air in all directions across the area.
  • The Pipestem Dam.
  • Flooding in Montpelier, N.D.
  • Flooded farmstead in Montpelier. The red barn was in a sandbagging photo as seen earlier.
  • The swollen James River has flooded a house in Adrian.
  • A flooded farmstead north of Dickey, N.D. A view of the house was in a previous photograph.
  • Cattle were left stranded on island north of Dickey, N.D. Some cattle began dying as the rising James River surrounded them.
  • A flooded farmstead in Dickey, N.D.
  • The James River at LaMoure, N.D. Highway 13 was covered in water, but was passable the day before. The river here is more than a mile wide.
  • The spillway at LaMoure Dam is eroding away. Water from the Cottonwood Creek fills this reservoir and releases flow into the James River south of LaMoure.
  • I-94 has taken on water west of Jamestown near the Windsor Exit.
  • An earthen dike gets put in place at the Human Service Center near the Anne Carlsen Center in Jamestown.
  • A member of the Jamestown Fire Department is on patrol in a downtown parking lot where sandbags were being placed for pickup. No other parking was allowed in the two lots.
  • A forklift operator loads pallets of sandbags ready for dispersal.
  • Volunteers working at filling sandbags now in the parking lot at the Jamestown Civic Center.
  • A Jamestown High School student delivers a sandbag to a pallet at the civic center parking lot.
  • A Jamestown High School student looks on while a scoop of sand comes his way while he holds a bag for the sand.
  • To lighten the mood of the flood, an area resident placed a life jacket on a snowman carving in his river-front yard in southwest Jamestown.
  • An earthen dike is placed through a fenced-in yard along the river in southwest Jamestown.
  • Heavy earth-hauling equipment moves through a yard in southwest Jamestown.
  • A sandbagging crew is working at building a dike in southwest Jamestown.
  • Workers place sandbags around the city wells in McElroy Park.
  • The glory hole spillway at the Jamestown Reservoir is almost taking on water. It has attracted many visitors. The road going across the dam is now closed to traffic.
  • Volunteers mixed with National Guardsmen build a sandbag dike near the mud in Jamestown.
  • Members of the National Guards place sandbags on a levee in southwest Jamestown.
  • Guardsmen and volunteers begin building a sandbag levee in Jamestown.
  • Two sheds are under water in front of a sandbag levee on the Jamestown Reservoir.
  • This sandbag levee at the Jamestown Reservoir is more than 8 feet high.
  • The glory hole spillway at the Jamestown Reservoir early on in the flood season.
  • The Lakeside Marina at the Jamestown Reservoir was moved to higher ground before waters started rising in the lake.
  • A Jamestown College student helps fill a bag with sand. Hundreds of thousands of bags have been filled since the beginning of the operation.
  • Students work a shift filling sandbags.
  • Stacks of wooden pallets wait to be loaded with sandbags outside the Jamestown Civic Center.
  • Floodwaters in City Park in Valley City. The Sheyenne River reached record flood levels this year.
  • The American Flag attached to a house flies as a large earthen dike is being placed on a street in Valley City.
  • A man stands in the shovel of a backhoe attempting to retrieve a large tree from the James River in Jamestown.
  • Overland flooding crept up to a barn in Millarton, N.D.
  • The marking gauge at the Pipestem Reservoir as seen in mid April.