Michigan State University Interim President John Engler said at a news conference Wednesday that the campus is facing the worst flooding it’s seen in 40 years, but he believes they are well prepared.
“We can’t completely control Mother Nature,” he said, “but you can see, if you look behind me, that the flood plan has been kicked into gear. One of the components of that plan are the flood barriers that are designed to protect the buildings along the river.”
MSU staff are working until late Wednesday night to secure the banks of the Red Cedar River with plastic barriers filled with sand. The barriers are about 4 feet high and can be stacked higher, and they’re covering about 1,200 feet of riverbank.
Lynda Boomer, MSU’s director of planning design and construction, said they plan to keep the barriers up until spring.