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Severe flooding situation in Minot, ND


mike2010

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I wonder how many people have flood insurance. These are amazing numbers - how many homes are expected to flood. I also wonder about mitigation efforts once this is over.

A direct parallel within the state is Grand Forks in 1997. 90% had to evacuate and 75% of homes sustained damage. In took a decade to recover the population loss. Grand Forks constructed a major flood barrier, and is now probably the safest city along the Red River of the North.

redrivergrandforks1997.jpg

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I wonder how many people have flood insurance. These are amazing numbers - how many homes are expected to flood. I also wonder about mitigation efforts once this is over.

A friend who used to live in Minot posted this on Facebook:

"When I owned a home in Minot I lived right by the river, and was told flood insurance is not required/ necessary even though the city had us marked in the flood zone. Something about how Minot will never flood because of the system built in the 70's. So we didnt included it in our policy. I hope that is not the same case for most of the homeowners in the flood zone. I hope they were smart and purchased it."

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A direct parallel within the state is Grand Forks in 1997. 90% had to evacuate and 75% of homes sustained damage. In took a decade to recover the population loss. Grand Forks constructed a major flood barrier, and is now probably the safest city along the Red River of the North.

redrivergrandforks1997.jpg

An interesting thing about that flood compared to this one is that this one is occurring much later. That one was in late April/early May, I believe.

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An interesting thing about that flood compared to this one is that this one is occurring much later. That one was in late April/early May, I believe.

Yes, that flood was a true spring flood (4/19 is when the GF levee failed). It occurred after a record setting winter for snowfall, and an unfortunate early spring storm with freezing rain followed by snow, followed by a warm up. This one is a combo of high moisture conditions left over from the spring melt and way too much rain up in Canada.

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Yes, that flood was a true spring flood (4/19 is when the GF levee failed). It occurred after a record setting winter for snowfall, and an unfortunate early spring storm with freezing rain followed by snow, followed by a warm up. This one is a combo of high moisture conditions left over from the spring melt and way too much rain up in Canada.

I think this explains a lot. If I read correctly, the flooding right now in Minot can be directly traced to reservoirs in MT that have to be drained due to a mammoth spring melt, compounded by a very wet spring.

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I think this explains a lot. If I read correctly, the flooding right now in Minot can be directly traced to reservoirs in MT that have to be drained due to a mammoth spring melt, compounded by a very wet spring.

Not exactly, since the catch basin for the Souris does not include any of MT, but I imagine that the same type of effect is in play up in Canada. The long term problem has been that precipitation in ND has been very high since the early 90s, and excessive in the last few years.

post-1746-0-16324700-1309006330.jpg

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Tornado sirens sounding in Minot per KX Minot no tornado warning but KX Minot are pretty much freaking out right now

Police spotted a funnel or tornado just now apparently in Minot, NWS in process of confirming this right now per the news station

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KX Minot is calling this a tornado warning for Ward County as officials now sounding sirens all up the county area.

Also, extremely heavy rain right now in Minot per the news cams, black curtains, visibilities down to 40 yards, geez

NWS hasn't issued a tornado warning, but KX Minot is

post-277-0-72788500-1309043831.png

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lol... The News (KX minot) is reporting a Tornado Warning but the NWS isn't.

Apparently a funnel cloud reported by minot police isn't enough confirmation...

Police reported a tornado near the Magic Campus, or Magic something on the west side of Minot about 5-10 minutes ago

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maybe their smokin some of the funny stuff..

Yeah, because that's the most logical answer.

The rotation was brief, 1-2 scans, and the NWS says they are not expecting a tornado to form, they even sent their message to KX Minot in caps. I think KX Minot was just a little panicky dealing with a possible tornado report by police, city sirens sounding, a massive flood underway, and dozens of people calling the news station is a panic about the storm. They've pulled the warning message and everything is in order now.

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Just because a tornado report comes in doesn't mean tornadoes are in the area. You wouldn't believe how many reports you get in severe weather ops from dispatch and public of "rotation", funnel clouds, and tornadoes when there is nothing but low scud, gustnadoes, or shelf clouds in the area.

Yep, I wasn't making any attempts to call out anyone, was just posting what I was seeing on KX Minot. It was a tense and confusing few minutes.

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NO DOUBT.

I can only imagine the stress and pressure on everyone involved. Not an easy task or job doing what they are doing - 24/7. Tension runs high - anger at the disaster - no place to direct that anger - sadness over losing a town - everyone on edge. Just a real mess for everyone involved. I would cut them a lot of slack - as others mentioned. Tense situation. Some of the news casters are also losing everything.

Crazy - YET another crazy disaster this year. One of many.

It's always awful to look at pictures of mother natures destruction when it affects someones livelihood, but even more surreal to watch the news team watching helicopter footage saying, "oh there's my house submerged" "yep, there's mine, too". And all the while they are so calm and collective as they watch their ruined lives.

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It's always awful to look at pictures of mother natures destruction when it affects someones livelihood, but even more surreal to watch the news team watching helicopter footage saying, "oh there's my house submerged" "yep, there's mine, too". And all the while they are so calm and collective as they watch their ruined lives.

Yeah, and this was also a city that was hit by a fairly strong tornado a couple years ago too. It wasn't an EF-4 or anything, but pretty damaging.

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Yeah, and this was also a city that was hit by a fairly strong tornado a couple years ago too. It wasn't an EF-4 or anything, but pretty damaging.

Regarding a tornado hitting the Minot area.....you must be thinking about another area.... Minot hasnt been hit with any TOR's (even very weak ones) in quite some time. Are you thinking of Northwood, ND which had an EF-4 a few years ago?

My wife is from Minot and has family there. Must realize that the hills or bluffs which got not flooding covers about 60 or 70 pct of the town whereas the river valley is the other 30 percent. But similar to Grand Forks....those not affected by actual flood is affected by other means such as lack of good drinking water, etc. Sad situation all away around. I know of very few people in Minot which would have flood insurance. After the 69 flood there was permanent flood protection in place. But its flood protection was based on dams upstream into southern Saskatchewan holding some of the water back. Almost a years worth of rain fell in the Estevan area and the Souris basin headwaters from April to mid June....just no way to stop it. Either have dams fail or have a controlled flood.

Dan

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Regarding a tornado hitting the Minot area.....you must be thinking about another area.... Minot hasnt been hit with any TOR's (even very weak ones) in quite some time. Are you thinking of Northwood, ND which had an EF-4 a few years ago?

My wife is from Minot and has family there. Must realize that the hills or bluffs which got not flooding covers about 60 or 70 pct of the town whereas the river valley is the other 30 percent. But similar to Grand Forks....those not affected by actual flood is affected by other means such as lack of good drinking water, etc. Sad situation all away around. I know of very few people in Minot which would have flood insurance. After the 69 flood there was permanent flood protection in place. But its flood protection was based on dams upstream into southern Saskatchewan holding some of the water back. Almost a years worth of rain fell in the Estevan area and the Souris basin headwaters from April to mid June....just no way to stop it. Either have dams fail or have a controlled flood.

Dan

At the end of May, about 450 homes in Minot had flood insurance. That's a very low number. It blows my mind that people trust levees and dams so much that they would drop flood insurance. As good as the Army Corps of Engineers are, they're human. Their best calculations can always be overtopped by excessive rain and other factors. If I lived in a flood zone with levees and layers of protection, I'd still make sure I had a flood policy.

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At the end of May, about 450 homes in Minot had flood insurance. That's a very low number. It blows my mind that people trust levees and dams so much that they would drop flood insurance. As good as the Army Corps of Engineers are, they're human. Their best calculations can always be overtopped by excessive rain and other factors. If I lived in a flood zone with levees and layers of protection, I'd still make sure I had a flood policy.

I live in East Grand Forks MN/Grand Forks ND which was hit hard by the red river flood in 1997. We have permanent flood protection now with protection up to 60 feet. The river in 97 crested at just over 54 ft. Very very few people carry flood insurance (FEMA) anymore. I would guess less than 5 percent. It is always the cost versus need issue. I have paid for FEMA flood insurance and got contents coverage as well through my insurance agent each of the last 7 years....it costs just over $400. But it comes down to cost versus perceived need....$400 can be used elsewhere by a lot of folks and the chance is quite low on any given year. You are not in the flood plain anymore due to the protection so you are not required here nor in Minot to get flood insurance.

Dan

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