moorhead city council

Nancy Edmonds Hanson

With record-setting March snowdrifts melting by the minute, the Moorhead City Council approved an emergency declaration Monday enabling actions to fight the Red River flooding anticipated in coming days. The declaration paves the way to access state and federal funds, if they are needed to cover costs of the flood fight.

City engineer Bob Zimmerman reviewed the National Weather Service’s probabilistic flood predictions issued on March 23, as well as the first deterministic estimate released on Monday. He noted the forecast foresees flooding this spring that is likely to fall among the top 10 floods in recorded history. The flood of 2019, with a crest of 35.04 feet, ranks tenth among those events. 1969, with a crest of 37.49 feet, is fifth. The highest river level of 40.84 feet was reached in 2009. “It’s possible this year will fall in the middle of that range,” he said.

Zimmerman highlighted Moorhead’s strengths as it faces the uncertainty of the weeks to come. “We have a great organizational structure, driven by emergency manager Chad Stangeland,” he noted. “We have a detailed, well-organized, highly structure approach to the flood fight, built on what we’ve learned over the years.”

Too, the city and state have invested about $148 million over the past 14 years, including the work done by the Buffalo-Red River Watershed District north of town before the Oakport annexation. That investment includes almost 19 miles of permanent clay levees and flood walls, two dozen stormwater pumping stations, and 83 stormwater gates.

The city’s actions will follow the time-tested series of 321 steps standing ready for implementation depending on the level reached by the river. The likelihood of reaching major flood level of about 38 feet would require 189 separate actions; the risk of reaching that crest is estimated at 5%. At that level, no sandbags are required to protect city public infrastructure; seven private properties that rejected buy-outs after previous flooding would need about 10,000 sandbags to be fully protected. The council decided several years ago that homeowners who chose not to accept the city’s offer are responsible for protecting their own property.

Zimmerman offered several pieces of advice for residents as the snow melts and flood approaches. He said that blocked drains along the curb may be cleared by homeowners, but they can also call the city’s call center to have street department staff check them out.

Sump pumps, he said, need immediate attention. “If you had a waiver to discharge them into the sanitary sewer over the winter, stop now!” Those waivers ended April 1. Instead, he emphasized, “It’s very important to redirect the flow away from the sewer system into another area.”

Four flood zones have been established, each headed by a city employee most familiar with that area, including Pete Doll for 28th to 70th Ave. N.; Andrea Crabtree Nayes for Center Avenue to 28th Avenue North; Mike Aamodt for the area between Center Avenue and I-94; and Levi Hockett for I-94 to 60th Avenue South. Their contact information is on the city’s flood information page, accessed from the home page at www.cityofmoorhead.com.

The site also includes the daily river level and opportunities to sign up for city e-notifications and Cass Clay alerts.