Bobcat Helps Defend Fargo/Moorhead Community from Flooding

Good corporate citizens are ready to sacrifice for the community that has supported them through both good and bad times. The residents of North Dakota, home of Bobcat Co., have helped make the Fargo-based compact equipment maker one of the top brands of machinery in the world. Now it was time for Bobcat to give back.

North Dakota has been battling severe flood conditions in the west and central areas over the last couple of months. The Fargo (N.D.) and Moorhead (Minn.) area, which is home to the company’s world headquarters, was working 24 hours a day (especially through the week of March 23) to fill more than 3.5 million sandbags and build extensive flood walls to protect the communities in anticipation of a record flooding of the Red River. Early on March 28, the Red River hit a record stage of 40.82 ft, slowly descending since then. Efforts then switched from fighting the flood to monitoring the river and returning the communities back to normal.

In response to the flood threat in the Fargo area, more than 100 Bobcat employees volunteered around the clock to help fill and place sandbags, build flood walls along the water’s edges, provide meals and answer phones at the volunteer center. Bobcat’s donation of more than 40 machines and 40 volunteer operators helped accelerate National Guard efforts to efficiently fill a portable floodwall system throughout the city. Management at Bobcat recognized the need for volunteers, especially operators, and encouraged all employees to leave their positions to help with the protection efforts.

“The response by our employees was phenomenal, as most were able to volunteer in one way or another,” said Laura Ness Owens, channel communication manager at Bobcat. “In addition to protecting the area Bobcat calls home, we were also protecting our own homes, as well as homes of friends, family members and residents. The whole flood-fighting effort has been a true testament to the spirit of the people of these cities.”

Bismarck and Gwinner, and their neighboring communities, both homes to Bobcat factories, were impacted by overland flooding, washed out roads and near blizzard conditions as well. Gwinner employees ramped up volunteer efforts to support neighboring communities, while other employees volunteered around Gwinner and in the Red River Valley, operating equipment, participating in sandbagging and providing food and support to community members. In Bismarck, where the Missouri River had ice jams that led to unexpected flooding, employees offered assistance to community members and neighbors in sandbagging and evacuation efforts along the river.

Bobcat dealers around North Dakota stepped up to help their communities as well by supplying equipment and resources toward flood fighting. Another reason Bobcat equipment was highly visible in the Fargo and Moorhead areas was that many customers were both working and volunteering their time and equipment to help protect the communities.