Flooding evacs North Dakota

People have been told to vacate and get to higher ground in some parts.

River is breaching levee, the evacuation sirens have been set off. Terrible situation for them

live link here,

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/43496174#43496174

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/US/06/21/north.dakota.flooding/index.html?eref=ib_topstories

ans we think we get rain here..

The Mayor has been quoted as saying ,'we are going to become a pool'

Another link here, they are really stressing that people leave NOW.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/kxmcweathercenter#utm_campaign=synclickback&source=http://www.kxnet.com/?setCity=min&medium=3958274

Holy cow, they just said the worst is expected next week. when they expect a surge, which they earlier described as a prairie tsunami.

This is going to be a big mess for a long time.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/43496174#43496174

Funny to hear so many people complain about the rain. We've had no rain compared to these folks.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/kxmcweathercenter

morticia2

Jake1 wrote: »

Funny to hear so many people complain about the rain. We've had no rain compared to these folks.

True, to date. But this summer is reminding me of the one where Tewkesbury flooded... I lived in the UK at the time and there was a scorching spring and all sorts of drought warnings, then it started raining in May and didn't stop until September.

up for anything

The poor gob****es in Minot are being asked to conserve water! I know I should laugh....:D

up for anything

up for anything wrote: »

The poor gob****es in Minot are being asked to conserve water! I know I should laugh....:D

Saw that meself, I was like ' Whut??' LOL

Seriously though, there seems no end in sight to the misery. Was watching some of the locals move around by boat earlier

What strikes me as odd, is that American mainstream Media would be all over this if this were happening in Haiti , yet when their own people are suffering, they lay low.

local press conference now.

Some pics here.
http://yfrog.com/h07dkejj


Jebus, he just said the river had risen two feet since this morning.



http://www.kxnet.com/?setCity=min

M.T. Cranium

This river (the Souris) rises in Canada south of Regina, SK and flows into North Dakota then back into Manitoba before joining the Assiniboine which then flows east and joins the Red River at Winnipeg. These other rivers have had floods also, the cause is partly heavy rainfall but mostly the meltwater from heavy snow last winter. Large parts of ND and SK had 2-3 feet of snow lying for months in February to early April, then when all that melted it started to rain with twice normal values at least in May.

Then the Souris River has several dams and irrigation lakes but these have all had to be "let out" or else the dams would have been destroyed by the volume of water. Apparently the situation is roughly twice the extreme flood predicted by the models for the return period of 100-200 years used to design the dams etc. So this is why Minot is more or less doomed to be flooded out as the levees are only as high as they thought they might need in a worst case discharge from upstream.

The land where the Souris rises is actually flat and there is a lot of water all over the region not draining off in any particular direction, farmers are getting worried that they won't be able to sow any kind of crops (mid-June is normally the end of that season) with their fields under 1-2 feet of water in many places.

The one good thing is that parts of Minot are built on higher bluffs that won't see any flooding, so the whole town won't be destroyed by the floods, and also there are no more large towns downstream, just a few small ones between Minot and Brandon MB where the Souris meets the Assiniboine. Brandon is about the same size as Minot and they have their flood levees built up from the earlier high water period. There is quite a heavy rainfall looming for Monday in this region, will post about that outcome later.

up for anything

I'm trying to find a map which charts the course of the Souris but not succeeding. Google maps make it too indistinct. Does it actually end in Winnipeg city and is there a chance of it flooding when the melt water reaches there?

Another levee breached again this morning, sirens have just gone off in Sawyer, a burb of Minot. Residents have been told to evacuate and get to higher grounds.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/kxmcweathercenter

Meanwhile, more flooding concerns in a different state, after a flood berm
collapses at Fort Calhoun Nuclear Plant, Nebraska


http://www.victoriaadvocate.com/news/2011/jun/26/bc-us-missouri-river-flooding-nuclear-safety/?news&nation-world

http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2011/06/24/24climatewire-a-nuclear-plants-flood-defenses-trigger-a-ye-95418.html?pagewanted=1

cousin_borat

Used to live in Bismarck so feel for the folks in Minot.

M.T. Cranium

The Souris River rises in the southern part of Saskatchewan (Canada), flows southeast into North Dakota through Minot, then loops back north, enters Canada again in Manitoba, and merges with the Assiniboine which has also flowed east from Saskatchewan. This is near Brandon. From there the Assiniboine (which flooded in May) flows about due east to the Red River which it joins in Winnipeg. Some water from the Assiniboine is diverted north into Lake Manitoba now, and earlier this year the levees were intentionally breached to let the floodwater out onto mostly agricultural land. This seemed to work in terms of preventing levee collapses downstream near the town of Portage la Prairie. The city of Winnipeg is protected by large-scale floodways that are used to direct the floodwaters around the city (these were built after severe flooding in the spring of 1950). But areas to the south of Winnipeg often flood in April from the Red River.

Well, at least most of today's rain fell further south in ND than the Souris valley but the Missouri River is flooding extensively now from Nebraska south into the state of Missouri. This is generally regarded as the worst flood year since about 1927 in central North America.

Because our spring has been so cool, there is still a fair amount of snow to melt in the higher elevations of the local mountains. Snow is still visible from here on a clear day at just 1200-1500 metres on the north shore mountains, normally by late June that has retreated to a few gullies or forested areas where you can't see it from this far away.

up for anything

Thanks for taking the time to explain that M.T.