Shovel, strain, in addition to the high water of the stack

But now, there is increasing competition.

As Fargo, s.d., confronts his third major flood in three years, residents, businesses and local governments are moving at a number of modern solutions to retain the waters of the Red River.

"I've seen enough sandbags for a life", said Alan Kallmeyer, committed dozens of friends and co-workers of the past two years for a full day of this exhausting masonry, filling and stacking thousands of sandbags around his house on the edge of river.

This year, Mr. Kallmeyer has purchased a device already in use by several of its neighbors, rings of his house with a tube of four feet of water. This aircraft, known as an AquaDam, cost of nearly $ 8,000. But it took a few hours of free implement strain and will be just as easy to disassemble.

Flooding is already the fourth largest on record. The River is expected to Crest this weekend in about 40 feet and remain high for more than three weeks, according to the National Weather Service. But the leaders of the city, said that recent experience, mitigation efforts and ample warning left the well prepared city.

Indeed, Fargo seems bracing to repel an invading army. Once more there are many piles of usual sand and levies in the land. But this year, for the first time, less the city will be protected by sandbags by barriers of alternate, as the lattice in the form of l AquaFence, industrial-size bags of sand walls called TrapBags and the earth filled with wire cages of Hesco bastions.

"It is pretty new to have as many products," said Tim Bertschi, an engineer of the Army Corps of Engineers flood.

Mr. Bertschi said that the Federal Government should observe closely to see how well these systems has worked in the coming days.

"It is a test of real life." This is not lab stuff, "he says. "But it would only be there if they didn't think it worked."

The city used approximately 3 million sandbags in 2009, the year of its worst recorded floods. Last year, the fifth worst, filled and stacked City $ 1.5 million. But now, even if an army of volunteers began work earlier than usual to Fargo "of sandbags Central" and filled almost $ 3 million, the city has used only about 500 000 bags of sand.

The city decided that reduce the need for volunteers worth the additional expense of new systems, which could be implemented quickly by small teams of trained workers.

"People are tired, really tired, the use of sand bags,"stated Dennis Walaker, the Mayor of Fargo.""

In total, he y 3.4 kilometres of sand bags, down 5.5 kilometres last year. Alternatives will be extended to more than 4 km, up to a tenth of a mile last year.

"We are doing our best to try to get to the point where we can eliminate bags of sand," said April Walker, an engineer who is in charge of the fight against the floods to the city. "We are not at this stage yet."

Everett Waid, the inventor based in Florida of TrapBags, said that he has sold more than 1 million the to the city of Fargo and the County of Cass just after showing his product at the Expo of Fargo flood.

Helge Kroegenes, President of AquaFence, Norway, said Fargo that such an order big that he could complete only a quarter of this.

And David Doolaege, the California inventor of AquaDam, said he spent several weeks travelling around the Fargo area deliver its devices to more than 50 private houses.

The three men, not surprisingly, were little cwos humble tool they trying to replace, and describes the sandbags as messy, cumbersome and prone to leaks and requiring an unsustainable amount of hand of gross work.

"Cave is that", said Mr. Doolaege. "They put some dirt in a buckskin and blocked their cave." It was the first bag of sand. And it is always the same premise - fill a container and their stack. ?

But Ken Hellevang, a Professor of engineering at the University of State of the North Dakota, who wrote a training manual on the use of sandbags, said that they are often the best option. They require little training to use; can be implemented in small, uneven or hard to reach places; and can be quickly more stacked higher river levels.

The owner of the warehouse of bags of sand to Fargo, e. John Carlson, said that he refused offers to sell the latest alternatives because it believes they are tested. This year, it sold over two million of old-fashioned bags.

"It is a simple, proven technology that works," he said.

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