MINOT, North Dakota (Reuters) – Floodwaters swamped lower-lying areas of Minot, North Dakota, on Friday as federal officials sharply increased water releases to the already swollen Souris River.With thousands of homes in the path of the flood, displaced residents settled in for their second mandatory evacuation since just after Memorial Day with the prospect of months in temporary housing.
Up to a quarter of North Dakota's fourth largest city of 41,000 residents were forced out of their homes on Wednesday afternoon. Outside those areas on Friday morning, streets were deserted except for dump trunks moving material toward levees.
By Friday morning, the brownish river water had reached more than two feet above historic 1969 flooding residents had used as a benchmark and just short of a record set 130 years ago.
"It's shooting up real quick right now," said Todd Hamilton, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Bismarck, North Dakota.
Above Minot, the levels in the Souris, or Mouse, river jumped rapidly on Friday and the impact could be seen with a record level at the edge of Minot.
An enormous rush of water was expected in Minot over the next 24 to 36 hours to smash the 1881 record crest by more than six feet and top the 1969 flood by at least 9 feet.
Heavy rains across the Souris River Basin left Canadian reservoirs over capacity. Water rushing down from Canada in turn has forced U.S. officials to make record releases from the Lake Darling Dam above Minot and other communities.
Federal officials sharply increased the amount of water they plan to release from Lake Darling Dam into the swollen River on Thursday, adding up to three feet to the expected peak of flooding in Minot.
On Friday morning, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was releasing about 24,000 cubic feet per second and was evaluating whether it would continue with plans to push 28,000 cubic feet per second from the dam today, spokeswoman Shannon Bauer said.
The permanent defenses at Minot were built to withstand about 5,000 cubic feet per second of water and temporary defenses had nearly doubled that protection to no avail.
Minot and Burlington officials on Thursday opted not to expand their mandatory evacuation zones after determining that in Minot, for example, the additional planned flows would increase the flooded area by a city block or two at most.
Minot Mayor Curt Zimbelman urged residents in homes on the fringes outside mandatory evacuation zones to shift belongings to upper levels of their houses.
North Dakota National Guard soldiers enforced an expanded ban on residential traffic in parts of Minot on Friday and earth-moving equipment pressed toward downtown. The dirt and sand dusted streets and buildings with powder.
Flood warnings have stretched from Burlington, northwest of Minot, through Logan and Sawyer to the southeast.
Amtrak has suspended Empire Builder passenger train service in part of Minnesota, North Dakota and eastern Montana due to flooding.
The Red Cross has set up shelters at the Minot Auditorium and at Minot State University for displaced residents. A couple of hundred people have used them so far, but that number is expected to increase.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has been studying the housing needs in the area, but an official said as of Thursday night that they had ruled out bringing in trailers.
Many residents have moved in with friends or family and stored furniture from vacated homes at an area ice arena, temporary storage facilities and in garages across the city.
Minot State University English Professor Robert Kibler, forced from his home in Burlington, stayed Thursday night on a cot at the Red Cross shelter at the university's dome.
"The Souris is not a river you usually notice," said Kibler, a Washington D.C. native who moved to the Minot area 12 years ago. "It is not a boating river or for recreation."
The massive flooding at Minot has overshadowed temporarily the widening deluge along the Missouri River that threatens cities from Montana through Missouri.
Federal officials have pushed record water releases from six reservoirs along the Upper Missouri River that are near capacity because of a deep melting snowpack and heavy rains.
Those reservoirs have little capacity for additional rain and record releases are expected to continue through August, causing widespread flooding in Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri. LINK
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