Fargo students forgo class to help out flood prep

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — Hundreds of high school students pitched in Friday to place 100,000 sandbags around Fargo and help protect homes against Red River flooding.

The nearly-annual sandbag party began in 2009 when the city fought the first of three straight major floods. Students placed 700,000 sandbags in less than two days during the last flood in 2011, but officials and residents alike hope not nearly as many are needed this year.

The 100,000 sandbags were slated for more than 50 houses throughout the city Friday.

About 40 students, mostly from Fargo North, laughed and sang as they tossed sandbags outside the home where Glenda Bro and her husband, a Fargo physician, have lived for 32 years. Bro said it was a relief to have the sandbagging help, which she called "organized and calm." The singing helped.

"That's kind of contagious," Bro said. "Fear is contagious, and so is a happy spirit."

The city has reason to be optimistic.

The latest forecast calls for the Red River to reach a water level between 38 and 40 feet. Although the river begins to spill its banks at 18 feet, few structures are threatened until the water level reaches into the low 40s, thanks primarily to increased flood protection efforts in recent years.

The river measured about 21 feet Friday morning and an updated forecast was expected later in the day.

Fargo North student Tristin Schoenwald, 16, said most students had wanted to start sandbagging Thursday, but weren't complaining about a lower river crest prediction.

"We're happy to help," he said. "The community has always been there for us. It's nice to return the favor."

One 13-year-old sandbagger, Brooke Peterson, is home-schooled student whose friend lives in the neighborhood.

"It's great to help. I love it," she said. "It's a great workout and I'm getting fresh air."

The students got out of class on what's expected to be the first 50-degree day of the year in Fargo. Mayor Dennis Walaker said he was expecting them to have a good time.

"I want to get out there and have a good time, too," he said.

City worker Jim Mohr, who directed sandbag placement behind the Bro home, said the students were extremely coachable.

"They get it down pretty quickly," Mohr said. "It's great to have them."

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Follow Dave Kolpack on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/davekolpackap .

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Fargo students forgo class to help with flood prep

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — Hundreds of high school students pitched in Friday to place 100,000 sandbags around Fargo and help protect homes against Red River flooding.

The familiar sandbag party that kicked off what city officials call "tuck it in weekend" began in 2009 when residents fought the first of three straight major floods. Students placed 700,000 sandbags in less than two days during the last flood in 2011. Officials and residents hope not nearly as many are needed this year.

The students sandbagged 134 homes throughout the city Friday and headed back to school after lunch was served by grateful residents such as Glenda Bro. About 40 students, mostly from Fargo North, laughed and sang as they tossed sandbags outside the home where Bro and her husband, a Fargo physician, have lived for 32 years.

Bro said it was a relief to have the sandbagging help, which she called "organized and calm." The singing helped.

"That's kind of contagious," Bro said. "Fear is contagious, and so is a happy spirit."

The city has reason to be optimistic.

The latest forecast calls for the Red River to reach a water level between 37 and 39 feet, down a foot from the previous crest range. Although the river begins to spill its banks at 18 feet, few structures are threatened until the water level goes above 38 feet, thanks primarily to increased flood protection efforts in recent years.

"The bottom line is we're in excellent shape to meet the crisis of 2013," said Dennis Walaker, Fargo mayor.

The river measured 21.7 feet at 2 p.m. Friday. Tim Mahoney, Fargo's deputy mayor, said the city would be buttoned up by the end of the weekend, then officials will monitor the river on an hourly basis.

"This weekend what we want to do is tuck it in, which means get all our dikes done, get all our sandbagging done, get everything done," Mahoney said. "And then we wait and watch."

Many students were happy to be outside on what was the first day where temperatures had reached into the 60s this year.

Fargo North student Ross Ashland, 17, also said he felt good about sandbagging because he was forced to evacuate his house during a record flood in 2009. He was also happy to be outside in a T-shirt for the "first time since winter started."

Another North student, Tristin Schoenwald, 16, said most of his classmate wanted to start sandbagging Thursday but weren't complaining about a lower river crest prediction.

"We're happy to help," he said. "The community has always been there for us. It's nice to return the favor."

One 13-year-old sandbagger, Brooke Peterson, is home-schooled student whose friend lives in the neighborhood.

"It's great to help. I love it," she said. "It's a great workout and I'm getting fresh air."

City worker Jim Mohr, who directed sandbag placement behind the Bro home, said the students were extremely coachable.

"They get it down pretty quickly," Mohr said. "It's great to have them."

Although workers placed down plywood in an effort to limit damage to the neighborhoods, it wasn't an issue around Bro's house because it won't be around for long. Not too long ago, the city told her the house was low on the priority list for a buyout. But last Saturday, the city agreed to take it off their hands.

"That is an answered prayer because this house wouldn't sell," Bro said. "Nobody is going to buy a house on the river in Fargo."

___

Follow Dave Kolpack on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/davekolpackap .

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Rain brings flood worries in Mo., Ill., Iowa

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The Mississippi River, so low for much of the winter that barge traffic was nearly halted, could reach up to 10 feet above flood stage by the middle of next week in parts of Iowa, Illinois and Missouri, National Weather Service hydrologists said Wednesday.

The weather service is predicting 3 to 4 inches of rain — and perhaps more — from Kansas City, Mo., to Chicago by Friday morning, the result of an unsettled weather pattern that prompted widespread tornado and thunderstorm watches. Soil is already saturated from an unusually wet early spring, raising concerns along the Mississippi from the Quad Cities, which are along the Iowa-Illinois border, south to St. Louis.

"I'm worried," said Mark Fuchs, a National Weather Service hydrologist in suburban St. Louis. "Major flooding appears to be on the table at a lot of locations. North of St. Louis, we're looking at the kind of flooding we haven't seen since 2008."

Floods in the spring of 2008 were particularly troublesome in Iowa, where hundreds of homes were damaged in Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and other towns. Maren Stoflet, a hydrologist for the weather service in the Quad Cities, said that with the ground already soaked, all the new rain will run off into rivers.

The flooding is an ironic twist considering that the Mississippi was approaching record low levels all winter following months of drought. The Corps of Engineers worked feverishly to dredge the bottom of the river enough to keep barge traffic moving, though loads were limited for several months.

But late-winter snow and frequent rains have pushed river levels back to normal and beyond. The Mississippi on Wednesday was at or near flood stage at several spots north of St. Louis, slightly lower to the south.

The rain this week is expected to be furious at times, up to an inch an hour in some cases, Stoflet said. That could create flash flooding at smaller waterways. Tributaries to the Mississippi and Missouri rivers could also flood, and that water eventually pushes into the bigger rivers, which would crest next week.

Fuchs said if the rain falls as predicted, minor flooding would occur on the Missouri River in Missouri, while the Mississippi could rise 8 to 10 feet in some spots, including St. Louis.

Property buyouts, enhanced levees and flood walls will limit any damage, but several roads, thousands of acres of farmland and a few homes and businesses would be impacted and small levees could be overtopped.

Emergency management operators say they've begun to brace for the worst.

"I'll go into a full-scale flood fight," said John Hark, emergency management coordinator in Hannibal, Mo., the scenic hometown of Mark Twain.

The historic downtown area, including Twain's boyhood home, is protected by an earthen flood wall, and buyouts have removed flood-prone homes outside the wall's perimeter. But Hark said the excessive rain could create a sudden rise that would cause Bear Creek, a Mississippi River tributary, to back up, closing roads and threatening some homes.

About 30 miles to the south, Louisiana, Mo., has no flood wall. The downtown is far enough from the river that it is in no danger, but a flood reaching 8 to 10 feet above flood stage would push muddy river water over Highway 79 — the main north-south highway through town — and damage a few homes and businesses, City Administrator Bob Jenne said.

"We do have sand and all the bags already stockpiled in the event we need them," Jenne said. "Right now, it's wait and see."

Potentially worsening the flooding in the not-too-distant future is another strong snowstorm in the northern Plains, snow that will eventually melt and trickle into rivers. The newest system could drop as much as 15 inches of snow in western South Dakota by Thursday, forcing schools to close and making travel dangerous. It follows a weekend storm that dumped a single-day record 17.3 inches of snow on Bismarck, N.D.

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Venezuelans flood streets for another Chavez coffin parade

By Andrew Cawthorne and Girish Gupta

CARACAS (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans were on the streets again on Friday at a funeral parade for Hugo Chavez amid opposition protests that the government was exploiting his death to win the election.

Chavez's remains were transported for about 12 miles through Caracas from an army academy to a military museum on a hillside where the former soldier launched his political career with a failed coup in 1992.

The events were the culmination of 10 days of official mourning in the South American OPEC nation led by the flamboyant socialist president for 14 years until his death from cancer.

A state funeral was held a week ago.

"You are a giant," his daughter Maria Gabriela said in an emotional religious service before the procession began.

"Fly freely and breathe deep with the winds of the hurricane. We will care for your fatherland and defend your legacy. You will never leave, your flame is in our hands."

Though his remains will for now be placed in the museum on the edge of the populous January 23 neighborhood - arguably the most militantly pro-Chavez zone in the country - there was still doubt over his final resting place.

The government wanted to embalm Chavez "for eternity" in the style of Soviet leaders Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin and China's Mao Zedong. But embarrassingly, officials said the process should have started earlier and confirmed on Friday that it had been ruled out.

A Russian medical team told the government the body would have to be taken to Russia for seven to eight months to carry out the procedure, Venezuela's information minister said.

Parliament had been due to debate a motion this week to amend the constitution so that Chavez's body could be buried in the National Pantheon, close to the remains of his idol and South American independence hero Simon Bolivar.

The constitution states that honor can only be accorded to leaders 25 years after their death.

But the debate was delayed amid talk Chavez's corpse might instead be taken to his hometown Sabaneta, in the Venezuelan "llanos," or plains, to fulfill his oft-stated wish to lie alongside the grandmother who raised him in a mud-floor home.

Crowds of red-shirted "Chavistas" lined the streets for Friday's parade. Some wore headbands with the name of acting President Nicolas Maduro, who was picked by Chavez as his preferred successor. He is running in an April 14 vote.

"Chavez, I promise you, my vote is for Maduro," read the headbands, repeating a slogan at pro-government rallies.

"I've got 500 and I'm going to sell them all easily. Chavez left Maduro in charge and he will be president," said Miguel Angel, 43, selling the headbands.

'PERVERSE PROSELYTISM'

The opposition, whose presidential candidate Henrique Capriles faces a tough battle to beat Maduro amid so much emotion over Chavez, says the government is mawkishly protracting the mourning and exploiting his coffin as a campaign prop.

Capriles, a 40-year-old state governor who views Brazil as his political and economic model, plans to begin campaigning around the country over the weekend.

"We urge those indiscriminately using the president's name for the capture of votes to halt this perverse method of electoral proselytism," an opposition communique said.

"Let's have a decent campaign, without unfair advantages or abuses of power."

That, many analysts say, looks unlikely given the government's vastly superior financial resources and pro-government supporters' dominance of state institutions.

Fighting back against that impression, however, the government says Capriles is a well-financed puppet of both Venezuela's powerful and wealthy elite and the U.S. government.

The deification of Chavez in death has taken surreal turns.

Maduro suggested that in heaven Chavez helped persuade Christ to choose a Latin American pope.

And the state oil company PDVSA has been distributing a flyer titled "Chavez Crucified" amplifying the government's accusation that he may have been infected with cancer by his enemies.

"Chavez is a Christ, he suffered for his people, he extinguished himself in their service, he suffered his own C Calvary, he was assassinated by imperialists, he died young ... and he performed miracles in life," it said.

That level of eulogy is drawing scorn in some circles for a man who, though loved by millions of Venezuela's poor for his welfare policies and down-to-earth style, was also hated as an authoritarian bully by large segments of society.

The election campaign has started in a nasty atmosphere, with both camps accusing each other of dirty tricks, and Capriles and Maduro landing highly personalized blows.

Photos of guns aimed at TVs showing Capriles have been circulating, while an opposition newspaper this week juxtaposed a photo of Maduro next to Hitler giving a Nazi salute.

Maduro, a 50-year-old former bus driver who is trumpeting his working-class roots like Chavez, has a solid lead over Capriles of more than 10 percentage points, according to two recent opinion polls. Both came before Chavez's death.

At stake in the upcoming election is not only the future of Chavez's leftist revolution but also the continuation of Venezuelan oil subsidies and other aid crucial to the economies of leftist allies around Latin America, from Cuba to Bolivia.

Venezuela boasts the world's largest oil reserves.

(Additional reporting by Daniel Wallis and Mario Naranjo; Editing by Vicki Allen and Lisa Shumaker)

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Venezuelans flood streets for another Chavez coffin parade

By Andrew Cawthorne and Girish Gupta

CARACAS (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans were on the streets again on Friday at a funeral parade for Hugo Chavez amid opposition protests that the government was exploiting his death for election purposes.

Chavez's remains were to be driven for about 12 miles through the streets of Caracas from an army academy to a military museum on a hillside where the former soldier launched his political career with a failed coup in 1992.

A state funeral was held a week ago.

Friday's events were the culmination of 10 days of official mourning in the South American OPEC nation led by the flamboyant socialist president for 14 years until his death from cancer.

Though his remains were to be placed for now in the museum on the edge of the populous January 23 neighborhood - arguably the most militantly pro-Chavez zone in Venezuela - there was still doubt over his final resting place.

The government wanted to embalm Chavez "for eternity" in the style of Soviet leaders Lenin and Stalin and China's Mao. But embarrassingly for Venezuela, officials say the process was started too late and may not be possible.

Parliament had been due to debate a motion this week to amend the constitution for Chavez's body to be laid in the National Pantheon, close to the remains of his idol and South American independence hero Simon Bolivar.

The constitution states that honor can only be accorded to leaders 25 years after their death.

But the debate was delayed amid talk that Chavez's corpse may be taken to his hometown Sabaneta, in the Venezuelan "llanos," or plains, to fulfill his oft-stated wish to lie alongside the grandmother who raised him in a mud-floor home.

Crowds of red-shirted "Chavistas" lined the streets for Friday's parade. Some wore headbands with the name of acting President Nicolas Maduro, named by Chavez as his preferred successor. He is running in an April 14 vote.

"Chavez, I promise you, my vote is for Maduro," read the headbands, repeating a slogan at pro-government rallies.

"I've got 500 and I'm going to sell them all easily. Chavez left Maduro in charge and he will be president," said Miguel Angel, 43, selling the headbands.

'PERVERSE PROSELYTISM'

The opposition, whose presidential candidate Henrique Capriles faces a tough battle to beat Maduro amid so much emotion over Chavez, say the government is mawkishly protracting the mourning and exploiting his coffin as a campaign prop.

Capriles, a 40-year-old state governor who views Brazil as his political and economic model, plans to begin campaigning around the country over the weekend.

"We urge those indiscriminately using the president's name for the capture of votes to halt this perverse method of electoral proselytism," said a communique from the opposition.

"Let's have a decent campaign, without unfair advantages or abuses of power."

That, many analysts say, looks unlikely given the government's vastly superior financial resources and pro-government supporters' dominance of major institutions.

Fighting back against that impression, however, the government says Capriles is a well-financed puppet of both Venezuela's powerful and wealthy elite and the U.S. government.

The deification of Chavez in death has taken surreal turns.

Maduro suggested that in heaven Chavez helped persuade Christ to choose a Latin American pope.

And the state oil company has been distributing a flyer titled "Chavez Crucified" amplifying the government's accusation that he may have been infected with cancer.

"Chavez is a Christ, he suffered for his people, he extinguished himself in their service, he suffered his own calvary, he was assassinated by imperialists, he died young ... and he performed miracles in life," it said.

That level of eulogy is drawing scorn in some circles for a man who, though loved by millions of Venezuela's poor for his welfare policies and down-to-earth style, was also hated as an authoritarian bully by large segments of society.

The election campaign has started in a nasty atmosphere, with both camps accusing each other of dirty tricks, and Capriles and Maduro landing highly personalized blows.

Photos of guns aimed at TVs showing Capriles have been circulating, while an opposition newspaper this week juxtaposed a photo of Maduro next to Hitler giving a Nazi salute.

Maduro, a 50-year-old former bus driver who is trumpeting his working-class roots like Chavez, has a solid lead over Capriles of more than 10 percentage points, according to two recent opinion polls. Both came before Chavez's death.

At stake in the upcoming election is not only the future of Chavez's leftist revolution but also the continuation of Venezuelan oil subsidies and other aid crucial to the economies of leftist allies around Latin America, from Cuba to Bolivia.

Venezuela boasts the world's largest oil reserves.

(Editing by Vicki Allen)

View the original article here