(Minot) City in North Dakota Braces for Flooding

[alp227]

Source: The New York Times

MINOT, N.D. — The mayor of Minot told residents on Wednesday morning to pack up their belongings as quickly as possible and head to high ground ahead of floodwaters that were expected to overtop levees, engulf much of the city and break a 230-year-old flood record.

The Souris River had not been expected to inundate Minot’s protective levees until later this week, but the mayor, Curt Zimbelman, told residents Wednesday morning that the city’s dikes would not be able to hold back the river beyond the afternoon.

“It is imminent that the flood sirens will be sounding in the City of Minot.,” said a message posted on the city’s Web site Wednesday morning. “People should gather the final items that they want to take and evacuate the evacuation zones.”

Minot had given about 11,000 residents in low-lying areas — more than a quarter of its population of about 41,000 — until 10 p.m. Wednesday to leave their homes, but officials then moved that deadline up by several hours.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/23/us/23flood.html

[grasswire]

1. a family member of mine was on the last amtrak through Minot yesterday

The route will be closed for many days now -- maybe until July 5, he was told. The train was 18 hours late getting into Chicago.

[yesphan]

2. I hope that

all the ICBM silo's around there are water tight.

[Twostones]

3. The levees have broken.

The levees have broken at Minot and flooding of the town is underway. People are fleeing as fast as possible.

[Raschel]

4. I hope people left as soon as they got the warning.

[russspeakeasy]

5. Unfortunately, we can't help Minot until we get done building the

infastructure in the middle east. Our priorities are so screwed up.

[russspeakeasy]

6. Unfortunately, we can't help Minot until we get done building the

infastructure in the middle east. Our priorities are so screwed up.

[WoodyD]

7. I used to live in Minot . . .

Don't worry about the missiles. They're outside of town. What's flooding is the central part of the town. The Souris River (called the Mouse by the locals) carves a river valley right through the middle of the town, going west to east. The flooded area will cut the town in half north to south. Some people have been told to expect 12 to 14 feet of water in their homes. 12,000 people had to evacuate so far. This is going to be devastating for the town.

Local stations are streaming live coverage.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/kxmcweathercenter

[classysassy]

9. Why not Minot?

"Freezing is the reason"I was stationed at Minot AFB,the winter months were the coldest of my life.The summers were hot and dry.There was a standing joke,"If you went AWOL they didn't report it for a week because they could still see you because the land was so flat"Most of the natives were nice,the Indians and the whites.

[zen_bohemian]

8. The water is going over the levees that they have been trying to build up

They mis-judged the evacuation time; everyone in the affected zones had to be out by 6:00 this evening originally, but earlier this afternoon the water was starting to overflow the banks of the levees, so the affected people had to hurry up and get out. Thank goodness for the National Guard, those guys deserve a raise, they have been fighting flood water all over the state for the past 3 months or so in different parts of the state.