Mankind’s fascination with rain and floods began in the days of Noah and Noah’s Ark. Before the great flood of the Old Testament, Creation had never seen moisture fall from the sky. Rather, a mist had arisen from the soil.

In the book of Genesis, chapter two, the Creation account is described like this: “When the Lord God made the earth and heavens-and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant on the field had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.” Can you imagine the shock the world must have felt as it began to rain.

Then the rain never stopped. For 40 days and 40 nights it poured from the sky as the water covered even the mountain tops. Only Noah and his family, plus one pair of every creature, were spared. So was the beginning, but unlike the great Old Testament flood, the rainbow is there to remind the World that God will never destroy mankind with water again.

The Red River Valley has certainly experienced its share of great floods, the first of which was recorded in the year of 1897. Water levels on April 17, 1897 rose to the elevation of 901.43 feet, a record high. Not even the famous flood of 1969 could match the impact, destruction and rapid crest of 1897.

For example, the Red River at Fargo crested at 37.3 feet in 1969, compared to 40.2 feet in 1897. At the Red River of Halstad, Minnesota, river levels rose to 38.23 feet in 1969, just below the 38.5 feet in 1897.

The Fargo Forum, on May 18, 1969, reported on the 1969 Red River Valley flood: “Generally speaking,” replied the U.S. Geological Survey, “the April floods in North Dakota were the greatest since 1897 on the Red River from Wahpeton to Grand Forks and on some of the Red’s tributaries in southeast North Dakota.” “North of Grand Forks the flood was slightly lower than the one in April 1966,” said Harlan M. Erskin, district chief of the Geological Survey, from the same Fargo Forum article of May 18, 1969.

The flood of 1969 did break previous record-high flood stages at ten different locations throughout North Dakota. Some of those locations included the Sheyenne River at Lisbon and West Fargo and the Pembina River at Neche, North Dakota.

Dr. Jerome D. Tweton, a Professor of History at the University of North Dakota, recently published a book on the great flood of 1950. In Tweton’s book he describes the 1950 flood as the greatest ever and there are statistics that would certainly give the statement validity.

Seven flood stage records, including those at Park River in Grafton and the Red River at Drayton, were established in 1950. Fargo-Moorhead has suffered through 30 major floods since 1897. Seventeen of those floods have occurred since 1965, including the flood of 1979 in which river levels rose well above flood stage up and down the Red River Valley. One of the hardest-hit areas was Kragnes, Minnesota.

From an August 14, 1995 article in The Forum, written by Patrick Springer, he helps Red River Valley residents understand the finer intricacies of their rich and productive topography: “The flat, fertile expanse labeled a valley is a valley in name only. The tabletop topography is what remains of the bottom of ancient Lake Agassiz, formed from the meltwaters of glaciers that disappeared 9,500 years ago; just a geological blink of an eye. “An infant land form, there simply has not been enough time for erosion to wear a well-established river channel in the glacial lake plain. Therefore, during major floods, the valley can become a sprawling flood plain; the temporary reincarnation of a resurgent Lake Agassiz.”

Spring flooding in 1996 was kept lower than initial anticipation due to cool temperatures and a gradual thaw. However, the northern end of the valley did suffer extensive damage as water levels in many communities rose above flood stages. The year 1996 may not be remembered so much for its spring flooding, but for the brutal storm of May 17 that whipped through like a July or August thunderstorm.

It’s really hard to pinpoint the greatest flood ever. The 1940’s saw three major floods; those in 1943, 1945 and 1947. Twice in 1950, the Red River Valley hit close to near-record water levels; once on April 18 and the second time on May 13. In 1962 the Red River Valley achieved flood stages four times; April 12, May 29, June 15 and July 12.

In April of 1965 another major spring flood arrived, due mostly to the powerful blizzard that hit only a month earlier. The three-day blizzard dumped several feet of snow and left the Valley paralyzed.

Some may disagree, but eight various flood years seem to stand out in the Red River Valley beginning with what may have been the greatest flood ever in 1897. The floods of 1950 and 1962 certainly left a legacy for destruction and length of flooding. Some regard the 1969 flood as the most celebrated flood since 1897 and have the figures to back it up. Major flooding hit in 1947 as well as 1966.

The year of 1966 was especially devastating to Grand Forks and to the north. Many remember the 1979 flood that drowned almost every Red River bridge from Wahpeton to the Canadian border. The flood many will never forget was in the summer of 1975. The rains began late in June and climaxed on June 28. It felt as though the rains would never end and for some Valley residents, the rains did not end until the path of destruction was too great.

“We had gone to Duluth for the weekend and when we got home people were sandbagging,” said Mabel Peppel, a long time resident of Borup, Minnesota. “Fields looked like big lakes.” Mabel, whose farm is east of Borup, was not effected as immensely as those with farms between Borup and Perley, Minnesota and south along Highway 75 between Georgetown and Kragnes.

However, the hardest-hit areas may have been near Ulen and Hitterdal, both Minnesota communities east of Borup. Ulen and Hitterdal, in certain areas, accumulated a total of 20-24 inches of rain in a two to three day period, including 10-12 inches on the climactic evening of June 28.

According to Howard Ellingson, rural Perley, his farm received only 2 to 3 inches that evening, but water from the east roared westward towards Borup and Perley. Rural roads were washed out and two major highways, Highway 9 between Felton and Borup and Highway 75, between Perley and Kragnes, were flooded.

According to Howard, the flood waters did not recede for 10 days.
“I was out cultivating beets that day (June 28),” said Howard. “I could see that it had been raining to the east all day. We lost every acre of crop we had. It was the worst flood I have ever seen and hopefully I will never see a flood like it again.”

The Red River Valley and it’s great floods: we are so fortunate to have enough rain in the Valley that farmers do not have to irrigate and very seldom is there drought. But every so often the rains become too much and the mighty Red River, usually our ally, suddenly turns ugly.

If history is any indicator, there will be more great floods in the Red River Valley. It is a situation citizens of the Red River Valley have come to reluctantly accept. After the rains subside and the flood waters recede, look to the sky and see the majestic rainbow.

It is the reminder of the covenant between God and the earth as it is explained in the ninth chapter of Genesis: “And God said, This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

InfamousFloodsof the Greater Red River Valley