Community spirit high in flooded Grand Forks

GRAND FORKS (NEWS 1130) – One of the cities hit hardest by flooding — Grand Forks — is bracing itself for another round of flooding.

People in the area say the community spirit is alive and well with everyone helping out one another through this difficult time.

“People from children to elderly are up sandbagging,” says city councillor Neil Krog. “We’re out stacking people’s firewood that we find floating around and anything else we can rescue from the flood water, as well as keeping eyes on each other’s houses.”

Krog’s neighborhood was one of the hardest hit during the flooding. While the waters didn’t reach the ground flood of his home, his whole lawn including the land underneath it, got flooded and some houses in the area did get damaged.

While she doesn’t live in the same neighborhood as Krog, Gail Atchison’s mobile home has been flooded. She and her husband are now staying at a motel where she says there’s camaraderie among evacuees.

“A couple of people have brought me like, you know, some clothes and one lady brought you know a couple bags of groceries,” she says.

Frank Schlichting hasn’t been affected, but knows many who have been. He helped with evacuations at the height of the flooding.

“Individuals have been very proactive in kind of rallying the troupes so to speak. And there’s a lot of volunteers that are doing a lot of sandbagging,” says Schlichting.

Those affected have been receiving support through red cross, but a GoFundMe page has been set up and has already raised over $18,000.

“A lot of people don’t have a lot of money but it’s amazing, even a $10 donation that people are adding- it goes a long way,” says Chuck Varabioff who started the page.

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