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Bobcat machines may be compact in size but they make a tremendous difference in an emergency.
North Dakota is home to the Bobcat Headquarters and factories. The state borders on Canada in the North Central region of the United States, where winter temperatures can drop to -20 or -30 degrees Fahrenheit and snowfall is heavy. Excessive rain last fall and above-average snowfall this winter created a significant amount of moisture the frozen landscape could not absorb.
Bobcat Donates Equipment, Employees Volunteer to Help The North Dakota residents prepared for major flooding in the eastern part of the state and battled flood conditions in the western and central areas in late March. People in Fargo (North Dakota) and Moorhead (Minnesota) worked 24 hours a day for a week, starting on March 23, to fill more than 3.5 million sandbags and build extensive flood walls to protect communities ahead of a record flooding of the Red River. Responding 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 Red River, 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.
Bismarck and Gwinner, both homes to Bobcat factories, were hit by flooding, washed out roads and near blizzard conditions.
Some Gwinner employees supported neighboring communities, while others volunteered around Gwinner and in the Red River Valley, operating equipment, sandbagging, providing food and supporting community members. In Bismarck, the Missouri River had ice jams that led to unexpected flooding. Bobcat employees offered assistance to community members and neighbors in sandbagging and evacuation efforts along the river.
Bobcat Dealers and Customers Join the Fight Bobcat dealers around North Dakota stepped up to help their communities as well by supplying equipment and resources for fighting the flood waters. Another reason Bobcat equipment was highly visible in the Fargo-Moorhead areas was that many customers were both working and volunteering their time and equipment to help protect the communities.
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