North Dakota Flooding Hits Record Level - Milwaukee Weather News ...

POSTED: 12:54 pm CDT June 24, 2011
UPDATED: 5:29 pm CDT June 24, 2011

MINOT, North Dakota (CNN) -- Summer flooding in Minot hit record levels Friday as the Souris River tied the all-time high of 1,558 feet set in 1881, according to the National Weather Service.The river is forecast to surge more than 6 feet higher than the old record as waters rush into the area, officials said.The rush of water prompted overflowing of a lake near the city, they said, exacerbating the region's flood concerns.Minot Mayor Curt Zimbelman has said that no new evacuations have been ordered, even though "the flows coming into Lake Darling are reaching the lake quicker and at a greater volume than predicted.""Due to this, Lake Darling has increased its outflow," the mayor said -- increasing flooding in the floodplain, though not to a point that it yet changes the "inundation zone."About 12,000 residents have evacuated their homes, according to Minot Fire Department Capt. Dean Lenertz. Zimbelman and North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple congratulated residents for an organized and efficient evacuation, with Dalrymple saying it had "gone extremely well."Water has been overtopping the city's dikes since Wednesday, which are leaking in some places.Dalrymple said that "all agencies are engaged" statewide in addressing the issue. He said, for example, that workers with North Dakota's transportation department are moving 100,000 sandbags from Bismarck to the Minot area, and there are about 500 National Guard personnel on site.The Souris River, which locals call "The Mouse" after the French translation of its name, flows through the center of town, and there are several homes and businesses along its low-lying banks.Fearing the main levees would not hold back the water, emergency workers have been constructing local levees around a school and the Broadway Street Bridge, a main thoroughfare.At least one of those had to be pushed back Thursday, Zimbelman said, eliminating Third Street as a north-south access point through the city.At the nearby Minot Air Force Base, about 1,000 members of the military and their families have been displaced by the rising waters in the city, according to Capt. Genieve David, a base spokeswoman. An emergency shelter has been set up on the base, with 50 people staying there overnight, the mayor said. An additional 221 people stayed at shelters run by the Red Cross.Minot, in the north central part of the state, is the fourth-largest city in North Dakota. The evacuation order covers a third of its population, state Emergency Services spokeswoman Cecily Fong said.The Souris River looks like a "U." It swoops in and out of North Dakota from Canada.CNN's Jim Spellman, Ed Payne, Marlena Baldacci and Alta Spells contributed to this report.

Copyright CNN 2011

Source: http://www.wisn.com/weather/28347835/detail.html

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