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Rebuilding dreams 5

The 2011 Souris River flood was – to put it mildly – unprecedented.

Over four thousand structures in Minot were damaged or destroyed. And 12-thousand people were displaced.

This record flood has brought about some changes in management of the Souris River. As part of our series “Minot: Rebuilding Dreams,” Prairie Public’s Dave Thompson reports on lessons learned from the flood.

Gov. Jack Dalrymple says the flood of 2011 was more massive than anything the people of the Souris River Valley have ever seen.

“We had no idea how big an event could actually occur up there,” Dalrymple said. “So now you have a new awareness of just how bad it can get.”

2011 was a remarkable year. Heavy winter snows – including late season snow storms – followed by very heavy spring rains, estimated at up to 17 inches over much of the upper Souris basin. Dalrymple says no one was prepared for that.

“And we had gotten quite late into June, and I don’t think anyone had ever really contemplated that a really big rain event over Saskatchewan and North Dakota simultaneously could create that kind of a problem throughout the river system,” Dalrymple said.

“We aren’t an area of the country where you expect to get these large basin rainfalls that produce record flooding over a big basin," said Greg Wiche with the US Geological Survey. “This area of the country certainly gets thunderstorms that produce flash flooding on small basins. But when you start talking about the Souris, the Red, the Sheyenne – that hasn’t been our normal experience.”

Minot City Manager David Waind says when flood control plans were written, this kind of a spring rain event was not anticipated.

“In talking to folks who were part of the International Souris River Board, it was clear that all parties involved in putting together the flood protection plan back in the 80s and 90s, fully understood that it was a spring flood event that we were trying to protect against," said Waind." Clearly today, we understand that is not enough.”

Since the flood, there have been discussions with the International board and with the state of North Dakota on making some changes in how the Souris is managed.  Right after the flood, some anger was directed toward Canada – with some people saying they didn’t release enough water early enough from the Rafferty and Alameda Dams, to potentially lessen the impact of the flood. Officials on both sides of the border now agree they couldn’t have anticipated the heavy spring rains. Since that time, however, there have been some changes in how the water is managed. And it was tested earlier this year.

“We started a little bit earlier this year, based on things to come, and we were able to work with the existing operating manual, or plans, but to push water through sooner in the event of this season’s flood," said Lt. Col. Kendall Bergmann of the US Army Corps of Engineers. "So they are working. They’re in constant communication with us and the US communities, as they always have, as are we with the lower basin, where it goes back into Manitoba and Canada, we’re in contact with them.”

“All of the reservoirs were brought down lower than what we had seen any other time," said Minot Mayor Curt Zimbelman. "So I think what we’ve seen from the Canadians as well as Lake Darling is that they’re willing to try to avoid any kind of thing like we’ve had before. I think this was a good example.”

Col. Michael Price with the Corps of Engineers says everyone realizes that the Souris must be managed for the entire basin.

“We can’t just protect the city of Minot," said Price. "If we just focus on Minot, we’re foregoing all the other downstream communities. We’re foregoing what’s going on in Manitoba and in Saskatchewan. Right now, the agreement is clearly focused on a target flow in Minot, but it takes into account the entire basin. So what the Souris board, the Corps and the State are looking at doing is looking at the entire basin to see what changes we can make so that this doesn’t happen again.”

Minot residents continue working on rebuilding their homes and restoring their lives. And Minot Mayor Curt Zimbelman says that’s probably the best lesson learned.

“People just have an ability to come back and work, and work beyond what they can sometimes do," said Zimbleman. "I just have seen many people in Minot just bounce back and did in and get things done.”

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