$2.00 Single Copy
Theborderlandpress.com
By Mike Alan Steinfeldt
Last week’s snow storm is in the rear view mirror. Now, folks in the region are looking to the snow melt forecast and what it portends for the spring flood outlook for 2023. Pembina County Emergency Manager, Samantha Diemert, said last week’s snowfall totals were pretty uniform across the county.
Community: 4-H National Volunteer Week highlights leaders Pg. A7
“On the average, we got approximately 18 inches across Pembina County,” she said. “That followed the ice we got the day prior. We were covered in ice.” Most of the region was under a winter storm watch until mid-morning on Monday, April 3. That’s when the National Weather Service upgraded that to a blizzard warning for most of North Dakota and a good portion of northwest Minnesota. The blizzard was originally scheduled to hit Tuesday morning but didn’t really impact the region until later in the day. Diemert said the delay in the arrival of the storm enabled residents to be prepared for what everyone is hoping is the last winter weather system of the season. “Pembina County started shutting down the middle of Tuesday,and we were shut down all of Wednesday and Thursday,” she said. No-travel advisories were issued for all of northeast North Dakota and northwest Minnesota for the better part of Tuesday and Wednesday, and Interstate 29 was closed from the Canadian border to the South Dakota border. Travel began to get back to normal by the end of the day on Thursday. All schools were either closed or went to virtual learning for the duration of the storm.
Education: Edmore students soak up history in Washington, D.C. Pg. B1
Volume 2, Number 14
Early spring storm in rear view mirror | Spring flood season on the horizon
In this Issue:
Ag: CHS Seeds for Stewardship program helps build communities Pg. A3
Friday, April 14, 2023
Flood outlook: Prior to last week’s storm, snow cover on the ground in Pembina County was at, or slightly above, what is considered normal. Diemert said the moisture content of last week’s
snow wasn’t as heavy as initially predicted. She hopes that will temper the severity of overland flooding in the county, but that will all depend on the melt and future precipitation. Diemert said major to moderate flooding is expected on the Red River this spring. The latest flood forecast for the Red River at Drayton has a 50 percent chance of hitting 40.8 feet and a 25 percent chance of it hitting 41.8 feet. Last year, the Red River at Drayton crested at 43.19 feet. ‘Flood stage’ in Drayton is considered 32 feet or above.
send to places that need them,” she said. The latest data indicated a crest on the Red River will most likely occur at the end of the month. According to Diemart, the time is now to think about normal preparations for high water and once the water starts flowing, it is important to keep the channels of communication open
between residents and county officials so that high water issues can be quickly identified and the appropriate responses made. “The waters are going to start rising with the melt,” Diemert said. “It’s best that everyone just be on their toes and make sure if they see something, they say something.”
Diemert said she expects Drayton to get their clay dike system in place for this year’s flood, and Pembina will put in their flood wall this spring, if necessary. The Red River at Pembina currently has a 50 percent chance of reaching 49.6 feet and a 25 percent chance of reaching 50.9 feet. The Red River at Pembina crested at 52.3 feet last spring. “So, it’s definitely nothing they haven’t seen before,” Diemert said. Looking around the county, the Pembina River at Neche currently has a 25 percent chance of reaching 16.7 feet, and it crested at 21.74 last year. In general, Diemart said overland flooding contributes to flooding on tributaries of the Red River. She said the overland flooding risk doesn’t seem to be as high as it was last year, but again, that will depend on how quickly the snow melts and if there is any additional precipitation.
Photo taken on Wednesday, April 5 in Walhalla by Melanie Thornberg. Snow totals topped 12 inches during the late spring blizzard.
Diemart indicated that communities within Pembina County are just beginning to put their flood preparations in order. She said the county currently has about 300 pallets of sandbags left over from last year’s flood fight. “We also have sandbags and sand to Photo taken on Tuesday, April 11, when the high temperature reached 45 degrees.
CITY COMMISSION DISCUSSES BRINGING CLEAN UP WEEK BACK TO LANGDON By Sarah Hinnenkamp
It’s been 10-15 years since Langdon had a clean up week, where residents could put all of their unwanted items on the curb for pick up. The question of bringing that event back was discussed by the Commission and the sanitation supervisor at Monday night’s regular meeting. “I’ve had a couple people ask me about clean up week,” said Darin Kaercher, Langdon City Commissioner. “I’d like to get back to curbside spring clean up.” Commissioner Lawrence Henry said he’s also received feedback that people would like the option back. “We’ll go ahead and do it, but we’ll have to have more employees,” said Tom Beauchamp, Langdon Sanitation Supervisor.
Index:
News Page A2 Agriculture Page A3 Opinion Pages A4 - A5 Community Pages A6 - A7 Church/Obituaries Pages A7 - A8
Beauchamp said the problem in previous years was that items put on the curb had to be sorted. For things like fluorescent light bulbs and cans of paint to be disposed of, the city needed separate vehicles to pick up each item type, which led to the city running 10-12 different vehicles during clean up week. Kaercher said pulling it off would require help from other departments in the city but thought there were enough people to help. Henry said it might help to get some of the lots in the city cleaned up since people could move the unwanted items to the curb instead of loading them up and hauling them to the city transfer station. “If it doesn’t work out, we’ll go back to square one next year,” Kaercher said. Beauchamp said, in addition to him and his two employees, it would take at least five extra people to help with the clean up, since regular sanitation routes don’t stop during clean up week.
“We can go back to the rules we had the last year that we did it. We can take a lot of stuff, but it’s just time and effort to do it,” Beauchamp said. “Some we can’t, like hazardous waste – some we can, but how much time do we have to do that?” Commissioners decided to review the previous clean up week rules the city of Langdon had in place, while also researching what rules communities in similar size to Langdon use. “We’ll table that for tonight and do some research,” Nowatzki said. In other news from the sanitation department, the summer schedule will start May 1, and Beauchamp thought the city’s compost program will start back up in about two weeks.
“I think there needs to be some rules – like no hazardous stuff,” said Jim Rademacher, commissioner.
As listed on the city’s website at cityoflangdon.com, the Langdon Transfer Station summer hours run May 1st through October 31: Monday and Friday 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Wednesdays (1:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. May-August) (1:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. September-October) Saturdays 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
“Can we do some research to find out what other cities do?” asked Mayor Jerry Nowatzki.
Winter hours, which are in effect Nov. 1 thru April 30: Wednesdays 1:00 p.m. To 4:30 p.m.
Education Sports Legislative Public Notices Classifieds
Page B1 Page B2 Page B4 Pages B5 - B6 Page B7
Weather: 4/14
4/15
4/16
high 35 low 27
high 34 low 18
high 37 low 17
Radar sign in Langdon records speeds for thousands of vehicles By Sarah Hinnenkamp
At the city commission meeting on Monday, April 10, Cavalier County Chief Deputy Shane Gallagher gave the department report for city law enforcement. The city contracts the county Sheriff’s office for law enforcement services.
“If we do keep some high speeds, we try to get some guys in that area,” Gallagher said.
Gallagher shared a report for the speed sign, saying deputies put it in five different spots around town to test it. The sign records statistics such as average, maximum, and minimum speeds. The city of Langdon acquired a road radar sign in May 2022 that has been operated by the Cavalier County Sheriff’s Department.
“If anybody does have a street that they want it on, just let us know,” Gallagher said.
“We saw kind of what’s expected,” Gallagher said. The report showed that 21,410 cars went by the sign. Gallagher said it’s an effective way to show speeds of the vehicles. Some of the unexpected statistics gathered included a speed of 67 miles per hour clocked near the Dairy Queen and a speed of 41 miles per hour by the day care.
“This is good feedback seeing where our money’s spent. I like this,” said Mayor Jerry Nowatzki.
Gallagher said the biggest expense for the sign is the batteries, which is why you won’t see the sign out during the cold winter months or during storms. Gallagher also reported to the Commission that the Cavalier County Sheriff’s Department has already filled the vacancy that would be left when the current sheriff, Greg Fetsch, retires on July 1. Gallagher will then move into the position of sheriff, since he was appointed by the Cavalier County Commission. “We already have it set to be filled with a young man who’s in the academy right now,” Gallagher said.
No kidding - Goats participate in story hour in Walhalla When reading the story “The Three Billy Goats Gruff” by Mac Barnett, the Walhalla Public Library added an interactive element to Story Hour: goats! For more details and photos, turn to page A6.