NATION DISAPPOINTED AS FARGO EVADES FLOOD DESTRUCTION

March 28 2009

Fargo, ND – The people of Fargo were ready. Sandbags had been filled, houses had been evacuated, and media was embedded but with word that the Red River has crested all of that effort has gone to waste. While dozens of homes in the surrounding area have been flooded and likely damaged beyond repair, the frozen tide has stayed away from Fargo proper, disappointing many residents and the nation at large.

It was way back in 1996 that the city of Fargo was last on the minds of the American people when the Coen brothers released their acclaimed and award winning movie sharing the same name. Though the movie itself had little to do with the city – Fargo was only shown briefly in the opening sequence – the name recognition brought pride and self respect to the city. Many felt that same kind of attention would be inevitable with the threat of the Red River bursting its banks and the possible devastation accompanying that, but that was not to be when Mother Nature decided to spare the town and strip it of any hope for national grief.

“We learned with Katrina that massive destruction can do wonders for a town’s public profile. Granted, New Orleans was well known and well visited before, but the destruction of the hurricane and the flooding guaranteed a whole new level of exposure and a permanent place in people’s hearts,” said Scrape TV American analyst Dave Davidson. “The movie was a fun thing for the people of the city but the reality is it was never a mainstream hit and still the majority of Americans have never heard of the town. The coverage of the possible flooding brought them a little more prominence, but nothing like what would have happened if a few thousand people had been killed.”

With a population just under 100,000, Fargo is the largest city in North Dakota, which is the third least populist state in the Union. According to a recent poll Americans also chose it as their 4th least favourite state ahead of Oregon, Wyoming, and Delaware. In fifth place was sibling state and ‘Jerks’ South Dakota.

“Being a Fargo-ian is like being the paper king of a cardboard castle. There is a prestige in coming from the largest city in the state but in this case it really doesn’t mean a whole lot. To put it

perspective the smallest borough in New York City is nearly five times as large as Fargo. Not exactly a powerhouse,” continued Davidson. “This flooding was an opportunity for them to get on the national stage and show what they were, Show heroism, show American spirit, but in the end it has amounted to nothing and the rest of the country will just go back to forgetting about the city and state again.”

Aside from the national attention many in the city were hoping for an influx of disaster relief funds and a cure to failing mortgages. Like many cities in the nation Fargo has been hit hard by foreclosures and failing businesses but as a result of their relatively low population and popularity very little in the way of stimulus money has made its way to the state.

“Acts of God tend to play well in insurance circles and when you have national attention it’s very difficult for insurance companies to avoid paying out. I’m sure the destruction of their homes would have come as a relief to many in the city but now they are burdened with going back, left to drown in their debt,” continued Davidson. “It’s a massive disappointment for the rest of the country too. There’s nothing like other people’s misery to take your mind off your own and the prospect of seeing people being air lifted from the roof of the ‘Fargodome’ or huddled
in the ‘Urban Plains Center’ brought a lot of hope to the rest of the country, never
mind the media. The thing people in the city are going to need to understand is that
you can’t wait around for others to make your destiny for you. This is two opportunities now that the city has tactfully avoided exploiting. Maybe they will learn from this incident and realize that Mother Nature doesn’t flood just anyone and that you can’t rely on Academy Award winning movies to make things better for you. You have to do it on your own because no one else is going to do it for you.”

Officials expect the threat of flooding to remain for at least 8 more days though it is not expected that anyone will care for nearly that long.

Mike Michaels, American Correspondent

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