The University of Mary sits high on a bluff east of the Missouri River. On the back side of the library building one can walk close to the edge and look over. With my new zoom lens I looked to the north and saw this elementary school and a house near it that were well-ringed with high dikes of sandbags. Water is near, and with the river height projected to raise another two feet or so, it remains to be seen if all these dikes and hold or begin leaking or collapsing from the pressure. Literally hundreds of dump trucks are still hauling thousands of loads of clay to build miles of protection. A FEMA official inspected them and was featured on our TV news; he was well satisfied with the dikes' 40 foot width at the base and 10 foot width at their crown. I am suddenly reminded of the flood in 1997 when it reached Grand Forks and inundated the downtown area and a fire broke out destroying several buildings. The slogan they adopted there was "Come Hell and High Water."
