Jeff Flock: Flood prevention activities in North Dakota

Jeff Flock

Q: Which areas have experienced the worst damage and which areas are presently in the most danger?

Flock: What's going on right now is a lot of preparation. In terms of actual damage and homes flooded out, there's just a handful. A number of communities, including Breckenridge, Minnesota and Fargo and Grand Forks, North Dakota are preparing for the worst, but at this point, this worst did not come.

VIDEO CNN's Jeff Flock reports from the Ottertail River in Breckenridge, Minnesota Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Correspondent Julie Borgen talks with people piling up the sandbags and reminiscing about the flood four years ago Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   CNN WEATHER FORECAST North Dakota Wahpeton Fargo Grand Forks     ALSO Grand Forks shores up levees as Red River rises

Q: How have conditions changed since yesterday?

Flock: There's been some improvement. Levels have gone down in Breckenridge. In Crookston, a town on the Red Lake River, which had problems with ice jams yesterday, the ice has broken up. The ice had been damming the river and raising river levels. Now that's in better shape. The concern, though, is about Wednesday and Thursday, when there is significant rain in the forecast. That is the wildcard, and no one knows how much rain is going to fall and if it falls all in the basin, that could raise projections beyond where it stands right now.

Q: Have there been many reports of property damage and injuries caused by the floods?

Flock: To my knowledge there have not been any injuries, and in terms of property damage, there are a lot of farm fields that are flooded and a handful of homes in various places, but no significant damage at this point.

Q: Has there been a need for people to evacuate their homes?

Flock: No, and in Crookston, Minnesota, where we were this morning, I talked to the mayor and he said they had not made any recommended or mandatory evacuations. At this point, to my knowledge, no one has been forced out of their home.

Q: How are people comparing this to the flooding in 1997?

Flock: At this point, there's no comparison even though the projected crest in Breckenridge was higher than in '97. Number one, that hasn't happened yet, and number two, none of the other projected crests are anywhere near the '97 levels. The fact is, though, when river levels get up this high, people's memories go immediately back to '97 and they begin to prepare for the worst. For example, in Grand Forks today, even though the river level now is only at 43 and they have levies that protect up to 50 feet, they are raising their levies another three or four feet, up to 54 feet largely because of the memory of '97 when the river at Grand Forks got up to 54.3 in 1997. So they are literally preparing for the worst even though it doesn't look like that's going to happen.

The reason the folks in Grand Forks give for raising the levy beyond what it is now is because they, frankly, don't believe the projections because in '97 no one thought that it was going to happen like it did. So because they really don't have a lot of faith in the projections for a crest, they are essentially preparing for the worst.

In some towns, like Crookston, the levies are very old there. They were not built by Army Corps of Engineers, they were build by laymen and have protected the town for a long time, but when you get high water on there and pieces of ice chunks banging into it as they float down the river, the levies can be compromised. So just when it seems the worst has passed, there could still be a problem.

Q: Are schools in session and are roads clear enough to drive?

Flock: School is in session. Yesterday Highway 13 into Breckenridge had one lane shut down. Some roads have a lane shut down here or there, but nothing significant either.

Cities along Red River prepare for floods
April 9, 2001
Minnesota, Dakotas pile sandbags against rising rivers
April 8, 2001
Midwest storm knocks out power, floods homes
April 7, 2001

National Weather Service
UM Weather (University of Michigan)

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.