ACC staying put for now

The Anne Carlsen Center will be remaining with its gracious hosts throughout Jamestown for the foreseeable future.

Crews remove trees on April 16 that were growing too close to the dike built next to the Anne Carlsen Center’s Jamestown Campus.
Click image to enlarge

As emergency crews furiously constructed levees and dikes throughout the city to help prevent the effects of flooding, ACC has decided to remain—for now— at its relocation sites.

Before students and staff can return to campus, staff from the South Central Human Service Center in Jamestown will need to be cleared to return to their own building. Staff from South Central Human Services is in the process of evacuating from their offices. A dike has been built on Third Street Northwest and through the South Central Human Services parking lot, but the building will be outside the dike.

“There is no way we will return before South Central Human Services, even though we are on the other side of the dike,” said ACC CEO Dan Howell. “There are measures in place, and we believe it will work, but we cannot take that chance.”

Constructing the series of dikes and levees throughout the city is expected to be completed by April 19. More than 85 soldiers from the North Dakota National Guard are working in Jamestown, along with 25 engineers from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The Center was reminded of how potentially threatening the conditions are during the Easter holiday. Flood waters began to overtake the east parking lot at the Center campus on April 12, requiring nine pumps to begin clearing water from ACC property. By April 13, the water was at a manageable level and the pumps were scaled back to just four.

ACC evacuated its 56 students on March 23 due to the threat of overland flooding. These students are living temporarily at four locations throughout Jamestown – Jamestown Hospital, the Zebedee Center at St. John’s Academy, the Heritage Centre-Ave Maria and Hi-Acres Manor.

ACC therapy staff is working out of Atonement Lutheran Church, traveling to the different locations to work with students. Students from Heritage Centre-Ave Maria and Hi-Acres Manor are attending class at Trinity Lutheran Church. The other ACC students participate in classroom activities at the hospital and at the Zebedee Center.

Members of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and a private contractor survey trees that were taken down the day before near the ACC guesthouse.
Click image to enlarge

“Our students are still well-cared for,” said ACC Board Chair Tom Rohleder. “The staff has done an amazing job during a stressful time.”

The James River has swelled past flood stage and is projected to continue to rise. Earlier in the week, staff at the Center fortified entrances into the Center. Sandbag barriers were rebuilt and fortified, with some of the sandbag walls measuring as high as three feet.

At about 7 p.m. on April 16 one of the members of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers identified a small breech in the dike just south of the ACC guesthouse. The breech was likely caused by a cistern or sewer system from a house that no longer stands on the property.

Crews from the Corps of Engineers and a private contractor had to remove a section of the dike before repacking it into place. Trees around the area were also removed to help create more space to widen the dike. An estimated seven trees, each about 30 feet tall, were removed.

Click here to see more flood photos