Midwest flooding takes toll on refugees

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — For some transplants to this quiet Plains city, last week’s feverish rush to hold back a historic flood threat carried reminders of the chaos that forced them from their old lives.

The National Guard troops and the constant humming of military vehicles along the Red River made Amar Hussein a little nervous. He came to Fargo from Iraq after a bomb blew up his vehicle and left his arms and leg deeply scarred.

“We see the military trucks, I see people making sandbags to protect the town, I think something happened,” he said.

Hussein is among more than 6,000 refugees brought to Fargo and its across-the-river neighbor, Moorhead, Minn., over the last 15 years by a Lutheran group’s resettlement program. Their home countries come straight from the headlines, representing major world conflicts over the past decade: Iraq, Somalia, Liberia, Bhutan.

The flood threat has passed, the area was largely spared and life was slowly getting back to normal Thursday. But the anxiety of the last several days took a unique toll on refugees: Many of them know all about losing everything they own, and some lacked the English skills to get flood information immediately.

Elvis Tahirovic lives with seven members of his family in a trailer near the Sheyenne River, a major tributary of the swollen Red. His parents and grandfather depend on him, his two brothers and two sisters for translation. But he works two jobs waiting tables, and couldn’t be home to keep them updated.

Instead, he left an emergency phone number on the fridge.

“In case anything happens while I’m gone,” he said.

To help refugees, an agency had information sessions with translators explaining how to prepare for a flood — things lifers here learn from birth. Stock up on food, water, blankets. Plug up the toilets to prevent water rising. Keep your eye out for evacuation orders.

Immigrants also volunteered in the flood-fighting effort and formed their own support groups, sharing food and information and finding that pitching in to save the city is a sure way to put down roots. But some admitted that they were a little startled by the whole situation.

“We see people preparing bags to go to a safe place, and we think, we don’t have family here, where would we go?” said Hussein, an Iraqi mechanical engineer who settled in Fargo with his wife more than a year ago. They have a year-old daughter.

The Red River was at 36.37 feet at midday Thursday, well above flood stage but safely below the top of Fargo’s permanent floodwalls. Fargo leaders insist the danger isn’t gone, but they’ve begun calculating their losses ahead of presumed federal disaster aid and have asked flooded-out residents to do the same.