The Rev. Trevor Janich is getting used to rising waters in his home area of Moorhead, N.D. as they have seen floodwaters four times in the last 12 years.

“My parents and siblings are out of harm’s way,” Janich said. “But my wife’s parents’ home has been flooded by the Wild Rice River.”

Janich, who leads the Assembly of God Church in Ellendale, spent three days sandbagging at his in-laws place back in March as the waters were rising in rural Abercrombie, N.D.  

“With all the attention and media focus on the Fargo-Moorhead area,” Janich said, “very little attention is being given to the rural area of North Dakota.”

Janich is organizing a group of people to go to rural North Dakota on April 22 and return April 26.

“We are hoping to fill a charter bus,” Janich said. “We have worked out a really nice deal with a local bus company and I am planning driving bus.”

When Janich was 16 years old, he remembers the flood of 1997.

“It was such a surreal feeling back in 1997,” Janich said, “to be there doing the work, the adrenaline pumping, all the schools let the students out to sandbag.”

The recent floodwaters that rose in the Red River Valley are believed to be caused largely because of last fall’s heavy rains that came and a quick freeze that followed, trapping the water in the ground. With this spring’s thaw the water was released into the streams and rivers combined with the rain and snow caused the rivers to rise to record levels.

“We are a little on the nervous side,” Janich said. “It looks like a second crest is inevitable with the 10 to 18 inches of snow that was just dumped on the area again.”

In his recent trip to the area, Janich and a friend discussed what it might look like to go back up with a crew of folks to help with a relief effort.

“Though I pastor a church,” Janich said, “this is a community event. It would be a great opportunity for an athletic team or class to grow in their friendships as well as a wonderful experience for all to help out other people dealing with a disaster.”

Mark Robinson, a member of Janich’s church, is among the people who signed up for the upcoming trip.

“I have never done anything like this,” Robinson said. “I look forward to the experience and to helping out.”

Robinson is the manager of Prairie Manor Care Center in Blooming Prairie.

“We are planning on going to the rural areas,” Robinson said. “To help those that many times gets overlooked in these kind of disasters.”

Interested people can contact Janich at (507) 684-3421 or trevorjanich@msn.com.