Road conditions are ridiculous. The snow has been coming down thick non-stop for hours. Winds are gusting up to 30 mph, creating drifts and buffeting the few vehicles out and about. There’s thick ice on the pavement and flood waters over some stretches of highway, forcing numerous closures and detours. Travel advisories are in effect and most seem to be heeding the warnings. There’s very little traffic, save for an occasional four-wheel-drive and the snowplows. Visibility is a quarter mile or less near Casselton, where they’ve set up a temporary National Guard and Red Cross staging area and shelter at the local school, which serves all grades. There are no classes all week so the building was available. 144 evacuees from Fargo were brought in Friday and Saturday, taking up residence on cots in the gym. 19 are still here. There’s a medical unit set up, the cafeteria is serving meals and movies are being shown on a TV. Board games are set up on tables in the dining area, and one man played solitaire this afternoon. More evacuees from a nursing home are staying temporarily at St. Leo’s Catholic Church just down the road. Snow has drifted up to the roof line outside the school’s front door, where the wind continues to howl. Otherwise Casselton is quiet, and the deputies we’ve spent the day with have had no emergencies to respond to.

I’ll keep you posted on the latest from Fargo! Keep checking back!