BISMARCK, N.D. - The North Dakota National Guard assisted flood mitigation efforts by placing 1-ton sandbags by helicopter near White Earth east of Tioga on April 12.
At the request of the Mountrail County emergency manager, the North Dakota Guard diverted one UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter from scheduled training at Kimball Bottoms south of Bismarck to help the community.
“Expanding our training to two sites is a win-win scenario,” said Maj. Gen. Al Dohrmann, North Dakota National Guard adjutant general. “In addition to assisting one of our communities, simultaneous missions provide excellent training for our operations personnel commanding and controlling aircraft in multiple locations. We will also gain experience working with community members who fill and stage these large sandbags.”
The UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter emplaced the sandbags to block an interior drainage culvert, preventing further inundation of the town of White Earth.
Many areas across North Dakota are experiencing overland flooding.
Large sandbags are used to block water and slow erosion during emergency flood response operations.
The last time 1-ton sandbags were used in emergency response was May 3, when Gov. Doug Burgum authorized the North Dakota National Guard to assist in stabilization efforts on the Bourbanis Dam at the request of the Pembina County emergency manager. The large sandbags were also used during the Guard’s response to flooding in 2009 and in Minot during 2011 flooding.
The North Dakota National Guard is a trained force of about 4,000 Citizen-Soldiers and Citizen-Airmen.