Red River Flood, 1997

The Red River Flood of 1997 was a major flood that occurred in April and May 1997, along the Red River of the North in North Dakota, Minnesota, and Manitoba. It was the most severe flood of the river since 1826.

The flood reached throughout the Red River Valley, affecting the cities of Fargo and Winnipeg, but none so greatly as in Grand Forks and East Grand Forks, where floodwaters reached over 3 miles (5 km) inland, inundating virtually everything in the twin communities and causing States dollar|US$" target="_blank" >^*2 billion in damages.

The flood in Grand Forks and East Grand Forks

The Red River forms the border between North Dakota and Minnesota. A few sets of "sister cities" sit directly on this border, with the most devastated by the floodwaters being Grand Forks, North Dakota and its counterpart East Grand Forks, Minnesota, although other pairs saw significant flooding and damage as well, including Fargo–Moorhead and Wahpeton–Breckenridge. Much of the flooding occurred not only from the rising river, but from overland flooding, as the flooded Red River was unable to drain meltwater away, necessitating dikes on both the riverfront and around the edges of towns.

There was some sense of imminent threat in Grand Forks, but the cities could not prepare for such an enormous flood. The National Weather Service (NWS) had a long-standing forecast for the river to crest at 49 feet (14.9 m), which was the river's highest level during the 1979 flood. The cities had been able to get their dikes to this level, but the river continued to rise past it, to the astonishment of the NWS (which didn't upgrade its forecast until April 16, the day the river actually reached 49 feet). The dikes in the low-lying Lincoln Drive neighborhood of Grand Forks were the first to break, doing so early on April 18. Other dikes over Grand Forks and East Grand Forks area would fail that day and the next, flooding thousands of homes.

The flood made national news. The most familiar footage is probably the fire that blazed downtown, surrounded by floodwaters. The Grand Forks Herald building was totally destroyed in the fire, along with 120 years of archives. The national attention of both flood and fire reached Joan Kroc, the McDonald's heiress, who anonymously donated $15,000,000 to be divided into $2,000 portions for each damaged household (though the amount some homeowners received was less due to the huge number of devastated homes). Smaller donations from all over the country poured in to the communities. President Clinton toured the cities and visited the thousands of refugees at the Air Force base on April 22.

All told, there was $2 billion USD in damage to Grand Forks and East Grand Forks. Thousands of people relocated after the disaster. Grand Forks, losing only 3% of its population from 1997 to 2000, didn't fare as badly as its sister city, which lost nearly 17% of its residents. Though many left, not a single person was killed in the flood itself.

Recovery and legacy

The 5-foot (1.5 m) discrepancy between the actual crest and that which the NWS had predicted led to widespread anger among locals, especially since the citizens of both cities reached and even slightly surpassed the NWS's level of protection through weeks of hard work. This anger was most famously expressed by a local resident's devastated home having the words "49 feet my ass" smeared on the exterior. The Service has since revised their method of forecasting spring floods.

Several local schools were destroyed, prompting the construction of replacements. Because construction was not finished on most of these schools until the end of 1998, hundreds of students spent a year and a half of school in temporary locations ranging from churches to FEMA-constructed temporary metal buildings, known by locals as "tin bins." Numerous city buildings were also damaged, especially in East Grand Forks, where the flood-ravaged downtown area had been home to the city hall and the public library. Both have since been replaced by new and elegant buildings, though not before spending a few years housed in a former elementary school and an ice rink's warming house, respectively.

Over 28,000 people were evacuated. They had 2 days notice to evacuate to Winnipeg from Morris.

New dikes have been constructed in both cities. The system of levees and new "invisible floodwalls" should be complete in 2007, having cost several hundred million USD. What were once entire neighborhoods are now covered by grass and trees, part of an extensive area of parkland called The Greenway. In East Grand Forks, this transformation is especially visible. One former neighborhood is now a large campground, the spiritual center of what is now known as the Red River State Recreation Area. The cities of today are significantly different from their pre-flood state, but most residents are pleased with this, seeing it as fulfillment of President Bill Clinton's promise that the cities would "rebuild stronger and better than ever."

The flood in Manitoba

The province of Manitoba completed the Red River Floodway in 1968 after six years of excavation, put up permanent dikes in eight towns south of Winnipeg, and built clay dikes and diversion dams in the Winnipeg area. Other flood control structures completed later were the Portage Diversion, and the Shellmouth Dam on the Assiniboine. But even with these flood protection measures, in 1997 the province experienced a flood of 7.5 m (21.6 ft), which caused 28,000 people to be evacuated and $500 million CAD in damage to property and infrastructure. Called "The Flood of the Century", the 1997 flood had a probability of occurrence of about once in 100 years, and came close to overcoming Winnipeg's existing flood protection system.

Towns upriver in Manitoba, forewarned by footage of Grand Forks buildings burning and covered in metres of water, built ring dikes to protect their homes and properties, and the province of Manitoba called in the Canadian Forces, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the provincial Department of Natural Resources. Thousands of volunteers also helped to build sandbag dikes around homes and property. An emergency dike, later called the Brunkild Z-dike, 24 km (15 miles) long, was constructed in a matter of days when it was realized that overland flooding threatened the City of Winnipeg.

Almost all of the ring dikes around the towns held, save one—St. Agathe. The town's dike system was prepared for the river approaching from the south, but the river had spread and swamped the town from the west.

At the flood's peak in Canada on May 4, the Red River occupied an area of 1,840 km² (710 mi²) with more than 2,560 km² (990 mi²) of land underwater. Nicknamed the "Red Sea", this temporary lake forced about 75,000 people to abandon their homes. $450 million CAD in damage was caused.

The province of Manitoba asked the International Joint Commission (IJC) to provide a report on the flood event and to recommend measures to ensure further flood protection for the city of Winnipeg. Largely as a result of this study, the province now plans on expanding the floodway.

Origins of the 1997 flood

There were four main factors that contributed to the flood's severity:

Rainstorms in autumn, 1996, had saturated the ground so that it could not absorb much water.
There was overabundant snowfall during the past winter. A total of 98.6 inches (250 cm) of snow accumulated in Grand Forks.
A freak blizzard (unofficially named "Hannah") had dumped a large amount of snow on the area on the weekend of April 5.
Tributary peak flows tended to coincide with those on the Red River itself.

The river often rises in the region during the spring snowmelt, but the record 1996-97 snowfall created river levels unseen in over a hundred years.

Past floods

The Red River in Manitoba and the U.S. states of Minnesota and North Dakota has flooded repeatedly through the centuries, endangering lives and property. The river is highly prone to flooding because of its northward flow. As spring approaches, the snow is melted from south to north alongside the riverflow. There is also the possibility that the surplus water can hit unmelted ice on the river and back up. The flatness of the terrain and small slope of the river is a significant factor.

The worst flood on record was in 1826, when settlers of the Selkirk Colony fled water reaching 36½ ft (11.1 m) above the river bed.

Floods occurred in both 1948 and 1950. The 1950 flood reached a high of 30 ft (9.2 m) at Winnipeg—causing 100,000 people to be evacuated and $606 million CAD (1997) of damage, prompting the government of Manitoba to set up flood safety measures.

Significant floods also occurred in 1882, 1897, 1969, 1975, 1989, and 1996. A fairly major flood struck in 1979. Homes not damaged in that flood were incorrectly assumed to be safe from a future flood.

The area continues to experience flooding as another major flood occurred April 2006. The Red River did go near the level of the 1997 flood in 2006 and only caused minor damage, primarily in rural areas, including water over roads and bridges.

References

External links

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