Bismarck/Mandan flood research.

Well as I was doing some digging into the flooding of Bismark I able to locate some pictures of the flooding that was happening around Bismarck/Mandan and around the western areas of the state. I also found the Bismarck website that had press releases during the time of the flooding. For people that have not heard much about the Bismarck/Mandan flooding. Bismarck was hit hardest of the two cities, with one of the more wealthy part of the city underwater. The area is called Fox Island it is on the south west side of Bismarck right next the Missouri River, this area is considered part of the flood plane of the Missouri River. Fox Island also houses a marina that is relatively new with some really nice houses. The Bismarck website has a list of press releases that concern the city of Bismarck, the website has released information about the flood and sandbagging that was happening in Bismarck. This website featured the same articles that the Bismarck tribune released during the flooding so it leads me to believe that these are the one and same articles that where release to the news organizations in Bismarck. Bismarck tribune did something that was really cool during the flooding, they had a running slid show of pictures and some videos of the flooding that was going on also the Bismarck Tribune had a page dedicated to the flooding/press releases for Bismarck/Mandan. I learned through some informal interviewing that the areas of Bismarck/Mandan that were in danger received the reverse 911 phone calls to inform the residents of Fox Islands of mandatory evacuation, this was also done for the area of Mandan but was a voluntary evacuation. I also looked up the flooding on YouTube to see what type of videos of the flood were out there, I found 147 videos dealing with flooding in Bismarck/Mandan and other areas of North Dakota. You can find the video of the demolition crew and National Guard setting off C4 on the ice jam that was backing the water up south of Bismarck/Mandan. This was really interesting looking at the videos, when I was working on the project I got side tracked looking at the videos, so if you got some time I say check out some of the videos.

crisis communication town

While I was not in Bismarck when the flooding and threats of flooding were occurring, I was kept informed of what was occurring by various means.

Mayor John Warfard held numerous press conferences along with Mayor Tim Helbling of Mandan, an official from FEMA who was assigned to Bismarck to monitor the impending flooding damage, and officials from the demolitions company that was brought in to assist Bismarck/Mandan in their fight to demolish the ice jams that were building on the Missouri River. Governor John Hoeven was also televised on several occasions to speak to the communities to keep everyone informed of the latest developments in relation to progress made by the demolitions team in blowing up the ice jam threatening the cities of Bismarck and Mandan. In addition to the press conferences, the local television and radio Medias kept the public informed via newsprint and radio announcements. The local newspaper, The Bismarck Tribune, published daily updates along with maintaining a photo journal of all that was occurring in both communities as well as surrounding communities that were also impacted by the spring flooding along the Missouri River. They also maintained a separate webpage devoted to flooding updates and news. And of course, I was in touch with many family and friends to hear first-hand accounts.

I will be interviewing some of the people that I know living here in Bismarck/Mandan about how effective the methods used during the Bismarck Crisis.