MPR’s Dan Gunderson reports on the major impact Red River flooding has had on Grand Forks, North Dakota. The Red River will crest today in Grand Forks at 54 feet - more than double its normal depth. The flood has forced the evacuation of Grand Forks and the city across the river, East Grand Forks, Minnesota.
Over the weekend, there was also a big fire in Grand Forks. Fire trucks couldn't get to it, so helicopters dumped buckets of floodwater on the fire.
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 Minnesota, North Dakota, and southern Manitoba. The flood was the result of abundant snowfall and extreme temperatures. It was the most severe flood of the river since 1826. Water spread throughout the Red River Valley and affected the cities of Fargo and Winnipeg…but the greatest impact was in Grand Forks and East Grand Forks, where floodwaters reached more than 3 miles inland. Damages in the Red River region totaled $3.5 billion. As a result of the 1997 flood and its extensive property losses, the United States and state governments made additional improvements to the flood protection system in North Dakota and Minnesota, creating dike systems.
Transcripts
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JOHN: Tonight will be the first dark night in most of Grand Forks. Most of the city has been evacuated, and city officials have decided to cut the power to reduce the risk of fires. Part of downtown Grand Forks destroyed by fire over the weekend, and three separate house fires were reported last night, but they didn't spread.
Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Gunderson joins me now from the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. Hello, Dan.
DAN GUNDERSON: Hi, John.
JOHN: How risky would it be to keep the power up in Grand Forks?
DAN GUNDERSON: Well, officials are just concerned about the possibility of having electricity and water which obviously don't mix. And there's some concern that that's probably what has caused some of the problems they've had with fire in Grand Forks and also in East Grand Forks, where they've had some house fires. So the decision was made, I guess, to cut the power, assuming most people are out, there's no one in those areas who needs power.
And also, it's being cut to some areas where they still have some people who have chosen not to leave because they're not flooded. And by cutting the power, they're going to also encourage those people to evacuate.
JOHN: Sure. When you're talking with folks today, I would guess that the sense would be that there's just this one more thing that they never expected having to deal with fire and electricity.
DAN GUNDERSON: Well, yeah, it's something that city officials were, I mean, they were so focused on dealing with this flood and then having to deal with a fire and try to fight a fire in the flood was just totally overwhelming experience. And it left such destruction that a lot of people who live in Grand Forks really can't even talk about the destruction to their downtown because they've seen the pictures, but it's still really hard for them to comprehend that 11 buildings, really the heart of the downtown is totally destroyed.
JOHN: You spent some time at the emergency operations center today, what did you learn there?
DAN GUNDERSON: Well, there's a lot of activity going on at the emergency operations center. It's a strange situation being here because where we are, there's a lot of emergency vehicles, many of the vehicles we see going by are military vehicles. There were trucks hauling dirt and sand today. They're still trying to build a dike to protect parts of the town that haven't flooded yet.
A lot of hustle and bustle around the emergency operations center, but they're coming to a point where there's not a lot left to manage as far as this disaster. All they can do is wait for the water to go down and start thinking about the recovery, which is going to be several days at least before the water goes down. But then as you look at other parts of town and they're controlling access to most of the town very tightly, there are military guards at most of the intersections here.
But the thing you notice is there are no people anywhere you look. I mean, you see the military vehicles and the construction vehicles, but there are just no people anywhere in town. And most of the people now have been evacuated. The last number I got from the emergency operations center was at least 45,000 people have been evacuated, and the population here is right around 50,000.
JOHN: When will the water supply be restored?
DAN GUNDERSON: Well, the water plant was flooded here. And when that was flooded also contaminated was the entire distribution system for water. The water plant is going to be underwater, I was told, for at least a week. And once the water goes down far enough, they'll start trying to clean it out.
It'll be at least two to three weeks before the plant can be working again, and then they'll have to clean the entire distribution system before they can start supplying water to the residents again. So it could be a month.
JOHN: Thanks very much. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Gunderson joining us from the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks.