red river 2009 flood watch ND/MB - Page 3

drew · #41 Posted **Mar 26, 2009, 9:30 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by freeweed

Wishing you guys luck for anyone on low ground. I may not be at risk for flooding personally but I'm with ya' in spirit.

In 97 we were so busy figuring out which road might still be passable for another half kilometer, and worrying about that half inch of rain that would have washed out Brunkild that I never had much of a chance to play observer until after the crest. Also with the Internet being still somewhat obscure, there wasn't the ability to stay up-to-the-minute other than CJOB and the like.

Those impressive sat photos of the Red Sea didn't really surface until weeks later - this time around it'd be neat (in a morbid sense) to have near realtime pictures like that. I flew over the city about 3 days after the crest and it was a very humbling sight.

Hopefully the Floodway improvements make this a non-issue for the city - I know a lot of very short-sighted and petty people fought tooth and nail against that, even though they'd already been proven wrong dozens of times. Good to see some sense finally prevailed because if I'm hearing right, and Fargo is seeing 41' already... it may just be needed already.

Hopefully the cities in North Dakota can get some stimulus money for completing more permanent flood protection, or even a make-work floodway for both cities. Seems like the US gov't isn't afraid to throw lots of money anywhere it can, and this could be a good time to do big capital projects....

1ajs · #42 Posted **Mar 26, 2009, 9:52 PM**

NOA upgraded the water lvl to 42 feet for sat

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ahps2/hydrog...,1,1,1,1,1,1,1

1ajs · #43 Posted **Mar 26, 2009, 10:44 PM**

i just herd they had a dike break on the moorhead side

Archiseek · #44 Posted **Mar 27, 2009, 2:18 AM**

Fargo has way more snow than us - that's the problem, that and complacency after '97.

Archiseek · #45 Posted **Mar 27, 2009, 2:20 AM**

Breaking news from Fargo's newspaper
http://www.inforum.com/

fingers crossed

The Jabroni · #46 Posted **Mar 27, 2009, 3:01 AM**

Yikes! I hope their dikes hold!

flatlander · #47 Posted **Mar 27, 2009, 3:05 AM**

i'm surprised they haven't called in the military to help.

1ajs · #48 Posted **Mar 27, 2009, 3:06 AM**

yea the school in moorhead is asking students in residen to evac a fellow ssper is there talking to him early i think hes evacuating

this ice is a mess waiting to happen here though

rrskylar · #49 Posted **Mar 27, 2009, 3:29 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by flatlander

i'm surprised they haven't called in the military to help.

The National Guard has been helping in the effort for awhile!

Riverman · #50 Posted **Mar 27, 2009, 4:11 AM**

I heard the mayor of Fargo speak on PBS today - he was so tired he was almost incoherent, poor guy.

The river in Winnipeg went down almost 3 feet today when the ice jam up north broke up today. My bird bath was almost a foot under by the looks of this.

trueviking · #51 Posted **Mar 27, 2009, 4:26 AM**

didnt we spend a bilion dollars raising everyone's house, building dikes and widening the floodway?...where are these houses still being flooded?....where have they been for the last 10 years?

if its those tiny cottages on that gravel road near selkirk built 10 feet from the river again....seriously if you didnt do anything about it since the last flood, you kind of deserve it.

Riverman · #52 Posted **Mar 27, 2009, 2:25 PM**

The floodway can not be operated until the ice is gone. It's a fact.

1ajs · #53 Posted **Mar 27, 2009, 11:11 PM**

at least the province has those ice breakers

Riverman · #54 Posted **Mar 28, 2009, 3:40 AM**

There is no point breaking ice that has nowhere to go. The river is frozen right up to the lake.

trueviking · #55 Posted **Mar 28, 2009, 5:35 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Riverman

The floodway can not be operated until the ice is gone. It's a fact.

the floodway is already operational...water is being diverted...the river isnt completely frozen and the crest isnt for another 3 weeks.

i really dont get what fargo has been doing for the last 10 years....did they do nothing to improve their flood defence?.....it seems they are in the same panic they were in in '97...how can this have taken them by surprise?

i wish the national media would put some perspective on this regarding winnipeg and southern manitoba...they keep showing a few houses that were inexplicably built in a flood plain in st. andrews, and make it seem as though the city is at risk....the reality is that at worst a handful of houses will be flooded because they didnt take appropriate precaution....even all the towns in the south have been prepared since '97....we spent a billion dollars on it....they should make that clear, instead of drumming up mass hysteria for nothing.

1ajs · #56 Posted **Mar 28, 2009, 5:59 AM**

the meadia loves it though they injoy making mass histeria hell some cnn reporters got arest for standing on the dike in fargo

Riverman · #57 Posted **Mar 28, 2009, 2:05 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by trueviking

the floodway is already operational...water is being diverted.

The gates are not being operated yet, water is flowing over the berm naturally.

Keng · #58 Posted **Mar 28, 2009, 2:45 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by trueviking

the floodway is already operational...water is being diverted...the river isnt completely frozen and the crest isnt for another 3 weeks.

i really dont get what fargo has been doing for the last 10 years....did they do nothing to improve their flood defence?.....it seems they are in the same panic they were in in '97...how can this have taken them by surprise?

i wish the national media would put some perspective on this regarding winnipeg and southern manitoba...they keep showing a few houses that were inexplicably built in a flood plain in st. andrews, and make it seem as though the city is at risk....the reality is that at worst a handful of houses will be flooded because they didnt take appropriate precaution....even all the towns in the south have been prepared since '97....we spent a billion dollars on it....they should make that clear, instead of drumming up mass hysteria for nothing.

Every year my wife's relatives, who all live in Ontario, call around this time to ask if we are o.k. They always get the impression the entire city is at risk, based on the news, etc. And I have to explain to them about the floodway protecting the city and it's in isolated areas etc. etc.

I don't want to come across insensitive to those north and south of the city, but to the vast majority, our situation is nothing like Fargo/Grand Forks, thankfully.

jimsabo21 · #59 Posted **Mar 28, 2009, 3:00 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by trueviking

the floodway is already operational...water is being diverted...the river isnt completely frozen and the crest isnt for another 3 weeks.

i really dont get what fargo has been doing for the last 10 years....did they do nothing to improve their flood defence?.....it seems they are in the same panic they were in in '97...how can this have taken them by surprise?

i wish the national media would put some perspective on this regarding winnipeg and southern manitoba...they keep showing a few houses that were inexplicably built in a flood plain in st. andrews, and make it seem as though the city is at risk....the reality is that at worst a handful of houses will be flooded because they didnt take appropriate precaution....even all the towns in the south have been prepared since '97....we spent a billion dollars on it....they should make that clear, instead of drumming up mass hysteria for nothing.

Sorry, but you are wrong on this.

The houses in St. Andrews and St-Clement (many of them have been there over 40 years and NEVER been flooded; even in 97) were at a safe level. They were never given funding to raise their houses or build ring dikes after 97 because they weren't in danger.

This years situaion is very unique. The floodway (although open) is only handling 400 Cubic Feet of Water per second (think of a bathtub, but the tap is only dripping) ... unfortunately, the floodway wasn't engineered to handle ice properly, so the city water levels rose higher than needed. It got up to 19 feet above datum at James St. Although not unprecedented, it's the 4th highest on record. As you continue north, the water levels get LOWER.

For example, if St-Norbert is at 22 Feet, James Street will be 19 Feet, and the Kildonan Bridge will be 17 feet, etc ...

The major ice jam, COMBINED with the floodway not being open caused the river levels north of Winnipeg to be even HIGHER than James St. That, is absolutely unprecedented at this time of year.

So, that is why St-Andrews and St-Clement are having record breaking flooding for their area. James St. was at 24.5 feet in 1997, and these people were all fine. They all live WITHIN the floodway ... today, the water is only 17 feet and they are being flooded ... it's the ice jams ...

This could happen anywhere.

trueviking · #60 Posted **Mar 28, 2009, 5:03 PM**

^ok, thanks...i didnt realize that....it looked like it was that area by selkirk to me that gets flooded almost every year.

it is still being blown way out of proportion....the news makes this handful of houses look like there is some impending threat to the city....it is more of a freak accident, not an indication of the overall situation....it should hardly be news....

my parents winter in phoenix, but they get the CBC news...i get calls from my mom assuming that there is mass hysteria in winnipeg like in '97....never does the news show the reality, they just focus on a few houses north of the city.

the CBC news did 8 minutes on the non existent flooding in winnipeg, and posted a 3 second note about a dike in jakarta that burst and killed 60.