LIDGERWOOD, N.D., - Nine National Guardsmen were called out as a part of a quick reaction force to assist in expanding the dike in Lidgerwood March 18.
The Soldiers, who serve with the 188th Engineer Company in Wahpeton, N.D., reacted to an early morning increase in overland flooding that threatened the southern part of town.
Sgt. 1st Class Patrick Porter, the operations sergeant in charge of National Guard operations in Richland County, said he received a call at 7:20 a.m., requesting National Guard assistance in preventing a complete dike breach.
The Soldiers began by applying pre-filled sandbags to the dike, and then brought in three 5-ton dump trucks to haul clay for Comstock contractors to advance the height of the dike. It was a cooperative operation among the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Comstock and North Dakota National Guard members that successfully stopped the breach and built up the dike.
"If we weren't out here this morning flipping sandbags, we would have lost the dike," said Staff Sgt. Jon V. Benedict, of Wahpeton. "Water was rising and spilling over in places."
Benedict, the noncommissioned officer in charge of the quick response force, said the team spent the morning unloading 25 tons of sandbags while the trucks hauled sandbags in to support the dike. The Lidgerwood-Wyndmere Fire Department also was assisting in sandbagging operations.
"We're here to give the Comstock engineers any assets they need or could use," Benedict said. "Everything's going really smoothly."
Porter said they saved the town of Walcott, N.D., from similar circumstances on Wednesday, and by Thursday they were on to help Lidgerwood.
"We are on a roll," Porter said.
Benedict said, had the dike been breached it would have taken out the retirement center and then spread through town, but the quick response of Guard members coordinated with civilian assistance had everything safely handled.
Porter said two trucks loaded with sandbags remain in reserve for the expected continued overland flooding from the Wild Rice and Bois de Sioux River over the next week.