The Daily Hatch

Flood waters begin

Flood waters begin to pour through a breached levee and flood the Minot Country Club Thursday, June 23, 2011 in Minot, N.D. Officials in North Dakota’s fourth-largest city said Thursday they had done all they could to protect critical infrastructure from the rising Souris River as it headed toward a record flood.

The Huffington Post reported:

MINOT, N.D. — Watching the Souris River creep over roads and into neighborhoods has amounted to slow torture for North Dakota’s fourth-largest city. In the next two days, Minot officials expect the waterway to roar.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Thursday again accelerated water releases from the upstream Lake Darling dam. Officials said the move could raise the river up to 3 feet higher than earlier projections – or a whopping 6 1/2 feet above the record set more than a century ago – in a community where floodwaters already have reached several homes’ first floors.

“The water is coming in deeper and faster than was expected,” North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple said.

Indeed, in just four days, the predicted release of water from the dam more than doubled – from 11,000 cubic feet per second to 29,000. National Weather Service hydrologist Steve Buan laid the blame on 4 to 6 inches of rain that fell last week in largely rural – and saturated – areas to the north.

“The short answer is, yes, it was from rain,” Buan said.

With peak water levels expected Saturday or Sunday, Minot officials said they have done everything they can to protect critical infrastructure. Mayor Curt Zimbelman said dikes have been raised as much as possible around the city’s sewer lift station and can’t be raised any higher. The city was confident the water treatment plant was protected.

“We need to hope that they hold,” Zimbelman said.

Failures there would worsen a desperate situation in Minot, where as many as 10,000 people – about a fourth of the city’s population – were ordered to evacuate Wednesday.

The city slightly expanded the evacuation zone on Thursday to add about 400 people in the river valley, but that notice was voluntary. Several hours after the expanded zone was announced, officials said damage to those homes might be no more than water in basements.

National Guard soldiers and work

National Guard soldiers haul sandbags and work on pumps on an earthen levee protecting the Minot, N.D., water treatment plant Thursday, June 23, 2011.North Dakota authorities expanded an evacuation order Thursday for the state’s fourth-largest city, citing danger from the rising Souris River