Concordia College

Concordia Cancels Classes to Aid in Flood Relief

Concordia students traded in their notebooks for sandbags Monday as they helped Moorhead families protect their homes from the rising waters. With the Red River expected to crest at 41 feet by Friday, homeowners and city officials are scrambling to create temporary dikes and add on to permanent dikes around the city.

The college canceled all classes after 9:40 a.m., encouraging all students, faculty and staff to sandbag, if able. Hundreds responded.

After registering at Minnesota State University Moorhead, the city’s flood control center, Cultural Events director Eric Runestad was shuttled to Rivershore Drive in Moorhead. He teamed up with chemistry associate professor Dr. Donald “Chopper” Krogstad and librarian Erika Rux to fill bags at a sandbagging station.

“They’re sending us where they need us,” Runestad said while filling two bags.

Michelle Conklyn ’11, Emerson, N.J., and Thomas Niedzielski ’09, Park Rapids, Minn., filled sandbags on River Drive for anyone who needed them. Conklyn, who’s expecting water in her rented home near the river, felt strongly that she should be helping those more in need.

“I’m going to get water in my basement, but that’s a college house,” she says. “These are real houses.”

Further down the street, three of Concordia’s football athletes filled wheelbarrows with bags in an effort to save the home of Duane and Lilla Talge, parents of Josh ’99 and Jordan ’05. The river will just reach their home at the expected 41 feet.

John M. Anderson ’10, Cambridge, Minn., worked down the street Saturday and said he was happy to help out again.

“We have the whole community supporting us,” says Anderson, one of the captains for the 2009 football team. “Now, we’re doing what we can for them.”

Many of their teammates were two blocks away helping an older couple, quickly emptying a huge flatbed trailer of sandbags with a carefully organized bagging line.

Neighbor Gary Burggraff stopped by to ask for their help when they finished. His plywood dike would protect the back of his home, he said, but with the increased crest estimate, he had more work ahead of him.

“I’ll need to have both sides of the house protected as well,” he said.