Hard lessons learned help fight floods in Fargo

By Leo Juarez, NBC News Producer

FARGO, N.D. – Its wait-and-see here now along the Red River. And what a luxury.

I was here last year as record-level flooding caught this city off guard and prompted a frantic, last-minute scramble to fill sandbags and hold the water back. Thousands were evacuated and hundreds of homes suffered an estimated $100 million in damages.  

Now, the Red is on the rise once again – 16 feet above flood stage as of Friday and counting. But the dikes are ready and the organized chaos of last year has been absent.

VIDEO: Midwesterners brace for Red River's crest

It helps that National Weather Service has projected that the river should crest Sunday at 37.5 feet, safely below last year's record setting level of 40.8 feet.  

But the lessons of 2009 are a big part of why Fargo (and neighboring Moorhead, Minn.) is far better prepared this time around.  

I saw that firsthand earlier this week when I visited "Sandbag Central," a warehouse where volunteers finished filling a million sandbags – an effort that began weeks ago and was completed days before the river is expected to crest. That and improvements to the city's flood protection system in the past year have given city officials and residents optimism. Downtown, where many shops shuttered their doors last year, it's business as usual. 

SLIDESHOW: Fighting floods in Fargo

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And while 30-pound sandbags are still the primary mode of defense, the city is also putting new technology to use. One example is the Aqua Fence, a system of portable walls that can be set up faster and with less manpower than traditional sandbags.

The strategy has certainly evolved, but the essential weapon in the fight against the floodwaters remains the hard work and generosity of volunteers – homeowners, students, relief workers, even inmates – who have pitched in to help. Until a more permanent flood solution is in place – possibly a diversion plan to steer the river to the west of the city – volunteers will likely be the muscle fighting the river's rise.