WHAT TO DO UNTIL THE FLOOD COMES

WHEN the people of Crookston, Minn., looked out their windows one morning last week, they were reassured. Their city was still there. Despite a brutal, 70-hour battering by the rampaging Red Lake River, Crookston had survived relatively undamaged. Other communities in the upper Midwest were not so fortunate. Swollen by the heaviest accumulation of melting snow in history, the region's rivers gushed over their banks and crested in five states --North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa. Tumbling gigantic chunks of ice before them, the torrents inundated vast areas, causing at least $31 million in damage and driving more than 22,000 people from their homes. Fortunately, only eight people died.

North Dakota was the hardest hit. Twelve thousand persons had to be evacuated from Minot when the Souris River went wild. Similar emergencies were faced throughout the upper Midwest. Yet despite the seriousness of the floods, the toll in damage, injury and death could have been much worse had it not been for precautions taken by the U.S. Government and some individual communities.

Going It Alone. As early as last February, weather bureau experts predicted floods because of the massive Canadian snow packs dissolving with the spring thaw. To try to protect at least some of the area, state and Federal Government agencies joined together to form Operation Foresight, an $18 million emergency effort. Under it, the Army Corps of Engineers produced 183 linear miles of dikes and assisted 283 communities with their flood preparations. The engineers distributed pumps and more than 10 million sandbags and used vast numbers of construction equipment. Even with its limited means, the program successfully prevented an estimated $113 million in damage. Many towns that suffered in 1965 were kept dry by the hastily built dikes.

Other communities had to go it alone. Some, such as Crookston (pop. 9,200), were prepared; experience had been a cruel teacher. In 1897, 1916 and again in 1950, the town had been devastated by floods. The Army engineers studied Crookston in 1943 and somehow concluded that it had no serious flooding problems, but the town disagreed and several years later began building a small dike system funded by local assessments and general taxes. By 1965, Crookston had 2.8 miles of new dikes, which cost nearly $63,000. The investment paid off immediately. The flood four years ago --the worst in a century--caused only $80,000 in damage, one-twentieth of the cost in 1950. Further improvements were made after 1965. Still, when the crisis came this spring, it was not the dikes but the people that made the difference.

Each section of the community was organized. Neighborhood headquarters were established with radios to communicate with dike patrols, troubleshooting teams and civil defense units manned by local citizens. Each neighborhood paid for its own equipment--everything from walkie-talkies to coffee urns. The preparations were as complete as the town's foresight and finances allowed.

Race with the Crest. Yet when the high waters arrived, it became apparent that a dike built last summer would not hold. Mayor Harold Thomforde broadcast an appeal for help, and soon 50 high school youngsters appeared. Working most of the night sandbagging the sagging dike, the youngsters saved 350 homes. The next day, the mayor organized 1,000 youths from the local high school, surrounding schools and a branch of the University of Minnesota. They labored in shifts on into the night, keeping the level of the dikes just above the ever-rising waters. But by 4:30 a.m., the river was still coming up, and the 250 youngsters on the night shift were clearly exhausted.

Once again, Thomforde went on the radio and called for assistance, and this time 150 adults came to man the dikes. At dawn, the mayor again asked for help, and whole families streamed to the dike lines. Nearly 400 people, including a dozen teaching nuns from Corbett College and Mount St. Benedict Academy, were at work at 7 a.m. At last the waters began to recede.

Treading Water. Other towns less prepared than Crookston suffered heavily. Forty-five miles downstream from Crookston in Grand Forks, N. Dak., individual homeowners suffered severe losses. The swirling Red River rapidly rose to a crest of 45 1/2 ft. and flooded 50 houses in the city's most expensive residential districts. There was no organized dike work in Grand Forks. Individuals tried various schemes to save their homes, such as encasing the lower portions of the houses with polyethylene sheets and keeping pumps going inside, but to little effect.

In the exclusive Riverside Park section of Grand Forks, one citizen bitterly condemned the local government: "The city took it all very casually. We were told that we were on our own and even had to pay 150 for sandbags." Mayor Hugo Magnuson blames the lack of preparation on the people living along the river. Magnuson says that they refused to allow the Army engineers to build necessary dikes because of property damage that might be caused by heavy equipment. But some residents contend that they had in fact sought a permanent dike, only to be refused by the Army engineers.

For both Crookston and Grand Forks, the danger was over by week's end. But for other communities in states to the south--Kansas, Illinois and Missouri --serious flooding was yet to come. It is obvious that comprehensive federal programs are needed to protect the nation's river basins from the almost annual ravages of flooding. Operation Foresight's emergency measures were helpful but makeshift. Colonel Richard Hesse of the Army Corps of Engineers admits: "The work has been done in great haste and does not meet acceptable standards in most cases." In the long run, says Hesse, flood disasters will persist until local governments prohibit building on lands annually threatened by inundation. More holding dams and reservoirs must also be built to control the rampaging rivers. Until that can be done, substantial parts of the Midwest can only try to tread water.

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