Evacuating Fargo's Poor and Vulnerable

Published March 27, 2009 @ 11:30AM PT

(Ret.) General Russell Honore, a retired military leader who directed the armed forces' response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, says Fargo, North Dakota officials should have the authority to move the poor, elderly and disabled from their homes as freezing flood waters from the Red River rise to unprecedented levels.

Everybody who has a car is not an issue. The issue is with the elderly, the disabled and the poor who may not have vehicles. Get them all collected up now and move them to shelters. That's a very important thing to happen.

But people get mixed messages: 'We've got the dike up and we're confident it's going to hold.' Well, there's no confidence that a dike is going to hold. There's no confidence that a levee is going to hold. All of them over time we've seen can be overmatched by water.

So if you're behind there and you're depending on it to save your life, you should not. You should move now. They really need to start moving people now. It's mandatory evacuations, because sometimes you really gotta force people to leave. Now, they will tell you they have a constitutional right to stay in their home. But if you have a mobility issues with the elderly, I'm of the opinion you should have the authority to move them. If they stay in there and that levee breaks, again this will not be paddling around in waist deep 80 or 90 degree water; this water is 30 or 40 degrees. It will kill you. (my emphases)

Fargo has a disaster preparedness plan, but like any municipality runs into obstacles Honore outlines: confusion about safety, resident resistance to leaving their homes (particularly if they've survived past events), lack of access of mobility for some residents, and logistical logjams in trying to move people out safely.

It's no secret that the poor and vulnerable are hardest hit by disasters: they generally lack the assets needed to effectively recover. If they're homeowners, do they have enough or any flood and/or homeowners insurance? Do they have the resources to fight their insurance companies? Do they own a car or have kin or friends who can help them evacuate? Are they sick, young or old or pregnant and thus more vulnerable to freezing temperatures? Do they live in more vulnerable, lower-lying areas where housing is likely to be cheaper? Do they have enough money in the bank to cover emergency costs beyond whatever's provided by a shelter, presuming they reach one? Will they have enough money to rebuild their lives once the emergency period of evacuation and temporary re-settlement subsides?

Note in Honore's remarks that he calls out local leaders who are trying to do their job by reassuring frightened and anxious residents that the city will prevail - they may think this type of man conquers nature meme is what residents need to hear. We will overcome, we will prevail, we will rebuild - as Americans, we buy into these messages very deeply across our country's vast geographic landscape. As climate change accelerates and disasters increase in frequency and severity, we need to rethink these popular myths as much as our actual behavioral and development patterns.

Fargo and area residents are on my mind and in my heart today as I watch the news unfold about the flood waters. The Red Cross has more information, including how you can help.

(Photo from US Army Corps of Engineers Public Affairs office. That's the water creeping up on the left in the photo.)

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Comments (6)

Great article, Leigh.
One thing that needs to be mentioned is the PETS Act, the Act requiring evacuation and transportation of companion animals. Of course, this Act affects all households, not only those with elderly, disabled or poor members. If the PETS Act were properly publicized to emergency management, emergency workers, and the public there would be less resistance to evacuation orders.

Posted by C W on 03/29/2009 @ 07:00AM PT
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Not a great article Leigh. General Honore should not be giving advice to Fargo from afar. We have experts on the ground here assessing the situation. Patients in one hospital and people in several nursing homes were evacuated. Some particularly vulnerable neighborhoods have been evacuated. However, to have a mass evacuation would be unnecessarily chaotic. We have the tools here to assess our personal vulnerability to flooding. I am sitting in my home which has a dike between it and the river which is about 200 yards away. If the dike broke at the projected peak (which it did not reach), I would have had water in my driveway. If General Honore "called out" our city leaders he is way out of line. Equally out of line is your assessment that "they may think this type of man conquers nature meme is what residents need to hear". What residents need to hear is our very competent city leaders who are making great decisions.

Posted by david buchanan on 03/29/2009 @ 05:37PM PT
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I never suggested a mass evacuation.

Of course, you have the vantage point of being (safely?) on the ground. But disaster evacuation and mitigation plans are critical, especially concerning vulnerable residents.

I have worked in post-disaster settings and officials can be wonderful leaders but that doesn't mean tensions don't exist in how they manage the land versus residents.

Posted by Leigh Graham on 03/29/2009 @ 08:10PM PT
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Of course I never suggested that you suggested a mass evacuation. I am safely (no question mark) on the ground. My wife and son, who is a special needs citizen, are safely uphill with other family members. Vulnerable residents who are in the areas which could be compromised have been evacuated. There is an evacuation plan which was published in the paper several days ago. I will say again that General Honore was way out of line to say the things he said in the CNN interview when he, obviously, does not know the situation here.

Posted by david buchanan on 03/29/2009 @ 08:23PM PT
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I can tell you both this :). I don't live in Fargo but I am elderly and I am deaf (although people who know me do not seem to consider me vulnerable). At the first credible sign of danger, I'm out of here. Am fully prepared to take just what I can carry--including my cat.

There is no way I'm going to sit around while the various agencies and NGOs have their turf wars.

Posted by C W on 03/29/2009 @ 08:45PM PT
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Cecily - Touche! :)

Posted by Leigh Graham on 03/30/2009 @ 12:43PM PT
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Author

Leigh is a PhD candidate in urban planning at MIT, and a consultant on U.S. Gulf Coast recovery. She sits on the Board of the Allston-Brighton Community Development Corporation in Boston, and has worked with non-profits, foundations and local governments on policies and programs aimed at reducing urban poverty and inequality.