River Inundates North Dakota City
(WSJ) Flooding is likely to spread farther across this city than previously expected as experts predicted Thursday an additional two to three feet of water could wash over Minot when the Souris River crests this weekend.
Hydrologists raised their forecast after the swollen river spilled out of its regular channel and cut down a valley to Lake Darling, the last flood-control point north of Minot, said National Weather Service hydrologist Allen Schlag in Bismarck, N.D.
In response, the Army Corps of Engineers is releasing more water from Lake Darling, with the rate expected to reach 26,000 cubic feet a second by early Friday. The Souris typically flows through the lake at 135 cubic feet a second this time of year, Mr. Schlag said.
Workers are racing to bolster levees on three city bridges as the river rises in Minot. Mayor Curt Zimbelman said it was unclear whether the job could be completed in time. "It's going to be a close call, but we're working all night to do it," he said.
With a major hospital on a hill by the city center, "it's critical [the north and south parts of the city] stay connected," Mr. Zimbelman said. "We're a regional medical center."
If all of Minot's bridges become impassable, residents in the north could have to travel 50 miles to cross the Souris and reach the south side, Mr. Schlag said. "That's a long ride for an ambulance."
Previous estimates for the crest were between 1,562 and 1,563 feet above sea level. The crest is now predicted to reach 1,564.5 feet above sea level by 1 p.m. Sunday and last for two days, according to National Weather Service data. That crest would break a 130-year-old record by more than six feet. The flooding could put some parts of the city under as much as 15 feet of water.
Thousands of residents in a zone along the river were ordered to evacuate earlier this week. On Thursday afternoon, city officials ordered all residents, even those outside the evacuation zone, "to move belongings to an upper level of your home."
Minot residents awoke Thursday to water spilling over temporary dikes in several spots along the Souris, also known as the Mouse River, while officials worked to protect pump stations, a water treatment plant and other key infrastructure.
"It's a sad day," said Ron Chiles, 71 years old, an Air Force retiree who packed up the last of his belongings Wednesday and spent the night in a Red Cross shelter at the municipal hall. "I just know the house is never going to be quite the same, and at my age, I'm not looking forward to the cleanup and the mess and what it's going to cost to repair the house."
The city of 41,000 has been working to protect other major infrastructure. Several schools, major buildings at the state fairgrounds and a refurbished Amtrak station are ringed with mounds of dirt. Animals from the city's riverside zoo were distributed to other zoos and farms. Soil from the center of an automotive race track was dug up to form a dike around the grandstands.
Michael Robinson, 54, was a truck driver in Minnesota when he landed an $80,000-a-year job driving water tankers for North Dakota's booming oil business. He had just bought a house by the Souris and was planning to start saving money when the flood hit.
Now, he's living at a shelter with a few possessions loaded into the back of his white pickup. "I came out here to get ahead," he said. "I certainly didn't come here to lose everything."
Suburban communities around Minot are also bracing for a flood. Downstream in Sawyer, N.D., Mayor Cy Kotaska said about 50 of his community's 350 residents have been evacuated as the Army Corps of Engineers race to make levees higher.
In Burlington, N.D., flooding was not expected to threaten homes before the new predictions. But when news hit that a bigger surge of water was coming, Mayor Jerome Gruenberg said the city of about 1,100 between Lake Darling and Minot halted work on levees because they could not be completed before the crest.
"We thought we could beat it," said the city's deputy auditor, Cindy Bader, "but now it's save what you can save."
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Hydrologists raised their forecast after the swollen river spilled out of its regular channel and cut down a valley to Lake Darling, the last flood-control point north of Minot, said National Weather Service hydrologist Allen Schlag in Bismarck, N.D.
In response, the Army Corps of Engineers is releasing more water from Lake Darling, with the rate expected to reach 26,000 cubic feet a second by early Friday. The Souris typically flows through the lake at 135 cubic feet a second this time of year, Mr. Schlag said.
Workers are racing to bolster levees on three city bridges as the river rises in Minot. Mayor Curt Zimbelman said it was unclear whether the job could be completed in time. "It's going to be a close call, but we're working all night to do it," he said.
With a major hospital on a hill by the city center, "it's critical [the north and south parts of the city] stay connected," Mr. Zimbelman said. "We're a regional medical center."
If all of Minot's bridges become impassable, residents in the north could have to travel 50 miles to cross the Souris and reach the south side, Mr. Schlag said. "That's a long ride for an ambulance."
Previous estimates for the crest were between 1,562 and 1,563 feet above sea level. The crest is now predicted to reach 1,564.5 feet above sea level by 1 p.m. Sunday and last for two days, according to National Weather Service data. That crest would break a 130-year-old record by more than six feet. The flooding could put some parts of the city under as much as 15 feet of water.
Thousands of residents in a zone along the river were ordered to evacuate earlier this week. On Thursday afternoon, city officials ordered all residents, even those outside the evacuation zone, "to move belongings to an upper level of your home."
Minot residents awoke Thursday to water spilling over temporary dikes in several spots along the Souris, also known as the Mouse River, while officials worked to protect pump stations, a water treatment plant and other key infrastructure.
"It's a sad day," said Ron Chiles, 71 years old, an Air Force retiree who packed up the last of his belongings Wednesday and spent the night in a Red Cross shelter at the municipal hall. "I just know the house is never going to be quite the same, and at my age, I'm not looking forward to the cleanup and the mess and what it's going to cost to repair the house."
The city of 41,000 has been working to protect other major infrastructure. Several schools, major buildings at the state fairgrounds and a refurbished Amtrak station are ringed with mounds of dirt. Animals from the city's riverside zoo were distributed to other zoos and farms. Soil from the center of an automotive race track was dug up to form a dike around the grandstands.
Michael Robinson, 54, was a truck driver in Minnesota when he landed an $80,000-a-year job driving water tankers for North Dakota's booming oil business. He had just bought a house by the Souris and was planning to start saving money when the flood hit.
Now, he's living at a shelter with a few possessions loaded into the back of his white pickup. "I came out here to get ahead," he said. "I certainly didn't come here to lose everything."
Suburban communities around Minot are also bracing for a flood. Downstream in Sawyer, N.D., Mayor Cy Kotaska said about 50 of his community's 350 residents have been evacuated as the Army Corps of Engineers race to make levees higher.
In Burlington, N.D., flooding was not expected to threaten homes before the new predictions. But when news hit that a bigger surge of water was coming, Mayor Jerome Gruenberg said the city of about 1,100 between Lake Darling and Minot halted work on levees because they could not be completed before the crest.
"We thought we could beat it," said the city's deputy auditor, Cindy Bader, "but now it's save what you can save."
http://online.wsj.com/
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