The Red River flood of 1997 in the United States was a major flood that occurred in April 1997, along the Red River of the North in North Dakota and Minnesota. The flood reached throughout the Red River Valley, affecting the cities of Fargo, Moorhead, and Winnipeg, while Grand Forks and East Grand Forks received the most damage, where floodwaters reached over 3 miles (5 km) inland, inundating virtually everything in the twin communities. Total damages for the Red River region were US$3.5 billion.
The flood was the result of abundant snowfall and extreme temperatures. Although river levels in Fargo reached record heights, the city was protected by several dikes and received minimal damage. In Grand Forks, however, the river crested at , surpassing the estimate of flooding set by the National Weather Service. Within East Grand Forks, all but eight homes were damaged by floodwaters. Grand Forks mayor Pat Owens had to order the evacuation of over 50,000 people as a large portion of the city would eventually be flooded. A large fire started in Grand Forks, engulfing eleven buildings and sixty apartment units before being extinguished.
Those affected by the flood received donations from across the nation, along with billions in federal aid. City officials and flood-forecasters were criticized for the difference in estimates and actual flood levels. Fargo, Grand Forks, and East Grand Forks built new dikes to prevent damage from future floods and the Greater Grand Forks area began to rebuild around the river, developing a campground recreation area, park, and shopping districts where homes once stood.
Red River and prior floods
The Red River forms the border between North Dakota and Minnesota. A few sets of "sister cities" sit directly on this border, including Grand Forks, North Dakota and its counterpart East Grand Forks, Minnesota, Fargo, North Dakota/Moorhead, Minnesota (Fargo-Moorhead), and Wahpeton, North Dakota/Breckenridge, Minnesota. The Red River in Manitoba and the U.S. states of Minnesota and North Dakota has flooded repeatedly through the centuries, endangering lives and property. The river is highly prone to flooding because of its northward flow. As spring approaches, the snow is melted from south to north alongside the river flow. There is also the possibility that the surplus water can hit unmelted ice on the river and back up. The flatness of the terrain and small slope of the river is a significant factor.
The first known recorded accounts of floods along the Red River appeared in the 1770s. Severe floods occurred throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, with one of the most recent major floods occurring in 1979. Homes not damaged in that flood were incorrectly assumed to be safe from a future flood.
Origins There were five main factors that contributed to the flood's severity:Shelby, p. 4 Rainstorms in autumn of 1996 had saturated the ground so that it could not absorb much water. There was abundant snowfall during the 1996–1997 winter. A total of 98.6 inches (250 cm) of seasonal snow accumulations in Fargo and 117 inches (297 cm) downstream in Grand Forks along with other record snowfall events covered the Red River of the North's watershed.Jacobs, p. 12 Abnormally cold temperatures plagued the Upper Midwest during this particular winter. Between November 7, 1996, and March 18, 1997 (a span of 131 days) the air temperature only reached 40 degrees Fahrenheit 3 times in Grand Forks. Because there were only a few days above freezing, there was very little gradual melting of the snow that fell throughout the winter. Starting on March 19, 1997, the temperature then rose above freezing for 27 consecutive days, and only eight days after that would the temperature remain below freezing. However, due to the sudden warmth in April, it melted the deep snowpack too quickly for the river to handle. A freak blizzard (unofficially named "Hannah" by the Grand Forks Herald) had dumped a large amount of freezing rain and snow on the Red River Valley on the weekend of April 5, 1997.The blizzard also killed one man and 10,000 cattle, 1,255 hogs, 3,422 sheep, and 1,000 chickens and turkeys across North Dakota. Shelby, p. 42 & 47 Tributary peak flows tended to coincide with those on the Red River itself.
Preparations The 1997 Red River flood caused over $815,036,000 in damages. The first flood outlook was issued on February 13, 1997, by the National Weather Service, declaring that there was "...a high spring snowmelt flood potential for the tributaries to the Red River, and a severe spring snowmelt potential for the Red River from Wahpeton, North Dakota, to the Canadian border".Shelby, p. 8 On February 27, a flood planning meeting in Fargo revealed that Fargo, Wahpeton, and Grand Forks would see the Red River rise to 38, 17.9, and , respectively.Shelby, p. 10 The Corps of Engineers recommended on March 24 that Grand Forks' engineers build dikes to a height of , which would provide three feet of leeway for the estimate.Shelby, p. 18 Additionally, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) publicly encouraged Grand Forks residents to purchase flood insurance, but only a thousand of the 52,000 residents did so.Shelby, p. 48 Later, researchers at the University of North Dakota determined that although more than 90% of residents knew about the option of purchasing flood insurance, only a small percentage purchased it since they believed the National Weather Service had projected that the river would not crest high enough to warrant a flood.Shelby, p. 111
On March 31, the North Dakota National Guard used helicopters to dump sand on ice covering the Red River in an attempt to use the sun's thermal energy to thaw the ice and prevent ice jams.Jacobs, p. 16 The "dusting" was the most extensive attempt in North Dakota's history.Shelby, p. 20 Starting on April 3 and continuing every dayExcept for three days starting on April 4 when Blizzard "Hannah" arrived and prevented flood protection due to extreme temperatures and snowfall. Shelby, p. 43 up to the flood, sandbagging and dike-building began.Shelby, p. 40 Residents, local university students, and Grand Forks Air Force base personnel placed about 3.5 million sandbags at various points around the river.Shelby, p. 62
On April 16, at a public meeting, Grand Forks mayor Pat Owens recommended that residents voluntarily evacuate the city.Shelby, p. 63 The next day, about 500 airmen and women from Grand Forks Air Force Base were assigned to assisting with monitoring the dikes around the river.Shelby, p. 64
The flood hits
The flood in Fargo
The Red River crested in Fargo at on April 17, but dike-building efforts were able to prevent the water from flooding into a majority of the city. An emergency dike was built and volunteers had to add sandbags to increase the height of a dike that had settled. The mayor of Fargo at the time, Bruce Furness, later stated: "We came very, very close to losing parts of Fargo...it took a lot of effort by a lot of people—a great many of them high school and college students—to save the city. I was very proud of them. I think it was one of Fargo's finest moments."
The flood in Greater Grand Forks
There was some sense of imminent threat in Grand Forks, but the cities could not prepare for such an enormous flood. The National Weather Service (NWS) had a long-standing forecast for the river to crest at 49 feet (14.9 m), which was the river's highest level during the 1979 flood. The cities had been able to get their dikes to this level, but the river continued to rise past it, to the astonishment of the NWS (which did not upgrade its forecast until April 16, the day the river actually reached 49 feet).Shelby, p. 60 The dikes in the low-lying Lincoln Drive neighborhood of Grand Forks were the first to break, doing so early on April 18.Shelby, p. 66 Other dikes over the Grand Forks and East Grand Forks area would fail that day and the next, flooding thousands of homes.
Water would end up reaching areas over two miles (3 km) away from the Red River, necessitating the evacuation of all of East Grand Forks and 75% of Grand Forks. School was canceled in both cities for the remainder of the term, as were classes at the University of North Dakota. The river crested at 54.35 feet (16.6 m) on April 21 and the river level would not fall below 49 feet (14.9 m) until April 26. The flood reached higher levels than the prior most severe flood in 1826. Because water drained so slowly out of the most low-lying areas, some homeowners could not visit their damaged property until May. By May 30, the Red River had receded below flood stages everywhere in North Dakota.
Evacuations When the dikes in Grand Forks could not keep out the flooding river, Pat Owens ordered the evacuation of over 50,000 people on April 18, which up to that time, had been the largest civilian evacuation in the United States since the evacuation of residents in Atlanta, Georgia, during the Civil War. She later reflected on the decision saying, "...if I evacuate this city and nothing happens they're gonna impeach me. But if I don't, we're going to lose lives." Because all transportation was cut off between the two cities (and for many miles, the two states), East Grand Forks residents were evacuated to nearby Crookston, namely to the University of Minnesota Crookston, while residents of Grand Forks, who were given mandatory evacuation orders on April 18, went to Grand Forks Air Force Base (residents stayed in airplane hangars containing more than 3,000 cots).Shelby, p. 86Shelby, p. 121Jacobs, p. 68
With the assistance of the National Guard and Air Force personnel, several hundred patients were evacuated from local hospitals with no injuries or loss of life during the evacuation process. Many residents also evacuated to motels and homes in neighboring communities. Some residents of Grand Forks criticized the National Weather Service for its incorrect prediction of the river level, as it had prevented them from securing their possessions from their homes. One resident said: "If they'd said earlier the river would hit , I would have moved my stuff out of my house. At 49, it was safe."
Downtown Grand Forks fire
The flood made national news. The most familiar footage is possibly of the fire that started on April 19 in downtown Grand Forks, surrounded by floodwaters, where eleven buildings and sixty apartments were destroyed. The Grand Forks Herald building was totally destroyed in the fire, along with 120 years of archives. Firefighters were not able to begin extinguishing the fire immediately as they had to evacuate nearly forty people in one of the nearby apartment complexes who had defied the evacuation order.Jacobs, p. 50 Additionally, their tankers were unable to reach the buildings due to the height of the floodwater and the water pressure from the hoses and fire hydrants was too weak to extinguish the flames.Shelby, p. 92 The National Guard placed the fire trucks on several tractor-trailers to prevent them from flooding, which allowed the firefighters to assist in extinguishing the fire.Shelby, p. 93 Also, two aircraft rescue and firefighting trucks from the Grand Forks International Airport were brought in to fight the fire because their engines were higher up off the ground, and thus did not get clogged by the flood waters."Grand Forks firefighters in demand worldwide for flood-fire experience." , Minnesota Daily, Grand Forks, 16 April 1998. Retrieved on 18 April 2013. The firefighters received assistance several hours after the fire started by a fire-bombing plane that dropped retardant and helicopters who made sixty drops totaling 120,000 gallons of water. Three of the firefighters were treated for hypothermia after treading through the cold temperatures of the flood water. The fire was later determined to have been caused by an electrical problem that had resulted from the large amounts of floodwater.Jacobs, p. 54
Donations and damages