Oakport Residents forced to leave homes
March 27, 2009
Many of the residents of the 550 homes in the Oakport Township are expected to leave today.
“We want people to get out,” Greg Anderson, chairman of the Oakport Township Board, said Thursday night.
At this point, officials are uncertain how many residents have left.
Clay County Sheriff Bill Bergquist urged all of the Oakport residents to evacuate. Of special concern ar those residents living west of a coulee that runs through the township. The Red River is rising rapidly and the Sheriff is concerned residents will be cuts off as water overtakes the roads there.
Several streets in Oakport were under water yesterday.
Bergquist also recommended that residents of Georgetown, north of Oakport, evacuate because of the rising Red.
Currently officials in Oakport were optimistic that their intense sandbagging earlier this week would protect them from the worst of this year’s flood. Higher than expected flood crest predictions have forced homeowners to re-consider their plans on Wednesday and Thursday.
Sandbagging continued on Thursday in accordance to the higher crest predictions. The main concern as of late Thursday was how to get sandbaggers to Oakport. The area has limited access and is congested with vehicles carrying diking material.
Anderson was unsure of the results of the sandbagging effort on Thursday.
“We made the effort, and we’re not giving up,” he said.
The houses and possessions being left behind “is just stuff,” he said. “Our families are what’s important.”
