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			Photo Album Pleasant Township, Cass County, ND, April 1997
			The winter of 1996-97 left over 116 inches of snow on top of saturated ground. A devasting ice storm, featuring lightning and thunder, occurred the first week of April, followed by the worst flooding in the Red River Valley in over 100 years.                     In April 1997, the Red River rose quickly and overflowed its banks. The gravel road that connected homes in our neighborhood was soon covered with river water that expanded its reach and spilled into our yards.     The drifts were so deep, we had to dig long, deep trenches through the snow just to reach frozen ground. We worked hard to build the dikes that would give us a fighting chance of holding back the Red River.                   Sylvester the cat watched the unfolding events of the "flood of the century" from the comfort of his living room.     A bird house attached to an ash tree was threatened by the rising flood of the Red River that inundated a front yard in the River Shore Subdivision.                   With an outpouring of generosity and support from wonderful neighbors and students from Kindred High School, North Dakota State University, and Moorhead State University, we defended against the steady advance of the Red River. We knew we were in for the fight of our lives.     An airboat driven by Associated Press photographers covering the "flood of the century" in the Red River Valley brought us a second water pump that helped us fight the flooding Red River. A photograph they took that day was published in newspapers worldwide.
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