Nation: 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.