Volunteers Needed in Burlington
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| 4/10/2009 |
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| The Des Lacs river is rising. On April 10th, a crucial point in the flood preparation effort volunteers were few and far between. City officials had hoped to start building the sandbag dikes early this morning, but the lack of volunteers meant work didn`t begin until afternoon. While more help is needed, volunteers are making progress. Fill...tie...stack...has now become stack, stack, stack. It is race against time as a few dozen volunteers work to build a dike along the Des Lacs River in Burlington. "The volunteers are what it is going to take to build this dike. We need volunteers to do it. The guard is here to help," says Kevin Archer of the Burlington Fire Department. Officials hope to have the sandbag dikes built by Easter as the river is expected to reach flood stage by then. And the urgency is growing. Overnight, the river rose about a foot. While more volunteers are needed, those who did show up were putting their all into building the dikes. "It is just a hop skip and a jump away. They are our neighbors," says Peggy Person. Peggy Person is from Berthold. She heard the call for volunteers on television and wanted to do her part. "Since I have been here there has probably been 50 or 60 people that have come. The more people, the quicker this goes. And the sooner we can head of this trouble," says Person. A 3,000 foot sandbag dike needs to be built. In some areas it will need to be as much as four feet high. The work is tough, messy and long. "Got the plastic down. Now we are building up the sandbag berm and then the plastic will come back over it. So this is how it works I guess. This is how we were told to do it," says Burlington Resident Chris Schaefer. The work is progressing despite the low number of volunteers. The hope is, the numbers of volunteers will rise long before the river does. Volunteers are still very much needed. If you would like to help, you are asked to come to Burlington Elementary School go inside to the cafateria where you can sign in. Volunteers will be bussed to the build site. People are asked to not drive to the build site as the extra vehicles will hinder the progress. |
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