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A question, cause I don't know

kolanuraven

kolanuraven

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Jul 27, 2005
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I've been reading about the flooding in NoDak. One example was a man who was sand-bagging his home, 15' from the Red River.

Ok...now this river has flooded, to some degree, each and every spring since the birth of the river.

Why do people still live so close to such a known and regular threat?

I mean, is the insurance pay back that good to risk your home?

I don't understand why people in other places catch crap for living in a danger area, i.e the Ninth Ward in LA comes to mind first off, and these people do not.


Why go thru this every year when a move of 1/2 or so would solve it?






http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/weather/03/25/north.dakota.flooding/index.html
 
Kola, I live part time 70 miles NE of fargo nd, I dissagree with you on 99% of political issues but I have asked the same question since I was a kid. I guess some people are slow learners! :???: :???: Shawn
 
The reason I asked is cause we're waiting on the rain portion of the storm here. We're to get 5" or more of rain. Now, we can take that amounts of rain because of our topography and really not have any MAJOR flooding.

BUT.....we have laws and reg's now and you CAN NOT build in a flood field ......and you can not build ANYTHING within a certain distance of creek or river, to avoid such issues.


But, forget the laws/rules/regs....you'd think common sense would tell you don't build 15' from a river!!
 
Thats funny cause I was watching the sandbagging on the Red River,Manitoba....same thing......greg said that river floods every yr,why don't those people just move???
 
Only thing I can tell you is lack of common sense.
Story that my FIL told me years ago concerned a family that homesteaded north of us on the Missouri River. They had their home site built up rather nice and were getting ready for spring. Well the river flooded and they got out of there with their lives, a team of horses and a wagon. The father swore to never build down there again. They built up on top way above the river.
 
I'm not so sure about the towns, but I know why the farmers live there. It's some of the most fertile farmland around. In Manitoba the Red River valley outproduces everyone. A really really good crop in our neighbourhood would be a failure to these guys.

As for Manitoba, Winnipeg has just expanded the floodway so the city itself is safe from flooding. Those outside the ditch are on their own, but since the flood of 97, every yard in the flood area has been required to have a dike built around it that is higher than in 97. It looks odd at other times of the year, but when you drive by a house in the country, it'll be sitting behind a dirt bank that's higher than the house, or it will be built up on a man made hill.

It's going to be interesting to watch this, because though Fargo has running water in the river, the north end, where it empties into Lake Winnipeg has ice on it. They've been out there for weeks now breaking ice with these really cool floating backhoe things ( i don't know the proper name of it) so they wouldn't have so many ice jams, but it's not safe for them to go out now. It's wait and see time. The homes are not so protected north of the city as they are south, so they may be the ones to get into trouble this time. It all depends on the ice.

After the 97 flood, they gave some thought to a floodway around Fargo, but decided against it. Maybe this year they may have second thoughts.

We can only hope for the best.
 
My son is on his way home right now he's been up sand bagging in Fargo since 5 am this morning. He just called and said his door's are froze and won't shut. I bet he's one tired fella when he get's here.

Alot of that country up there is so flat that once it spill's over it can flood for miles.

I was suppose to haul some beet tailings out of Hillsboro ND this weekend but thats on the back burner now.The road I travel on is closed due to flooding.
 
What Denny said. Those rivers only have to raise a little bit to run out a long way. I saw it explain by pouring a gallon of water on a cookie sheet. :-)

They do build to close and in low spot. The Rafferty dam in Sask. was built party for Minot ND sake to help with flood protection.
 
Denny said:
My son is on his way home right now he's been up sand bagging in Fargo since 5 am this morning. He just called and said his door's are froze and won't shut. I bet he's one tired fella when he get's here.

Alot of that country up there is so flat that once it spill's over it can flood for miles.

I was suppose to haul some beet tailings out of Hillsboro ND this weekend but thats on the back burner now.The road I travel on is closed due to flooding.
Click to expand...

My grandparents on my Mom's side lived at Hillsboro, my Uncle took over the farm but he has been gone for 10 years or so. Don't know if it is still in the family or not. Another Aunt and her family are at Anneta.(sp?)
 
the_jersey_lilly_2000 said:
Kola.....if the same storm that just passed over us is the one you get, get prepared for horendous lightenin!!!!!!! :shock: I mean BIG HONKIN LIGHTENIN!!!!!
Click to expand...



They tell us that we're just gonna get HEAVY rain, 5", as the ' storm' part should wear itself out over Alabama.

We're to have winds about 40-50 mph with it...so I had to pull the
' potted' palm trees in closer to the house!!!
 
I was on the phone late last night with a friend in the Bismarck ND area. They are expected to exceed the 500 year flood plain. Lots of losses for the area there this year. As far as living in Fargo, people will live where the jobs are, and build wherever Fannie would loan them money to build. :lol:
 
Well it does not look very good for our neighbors 70 miles west of us in Fargo, nd. They have started evacuations of the hospitals, nursing homes, and some neighborhoods. But there is nobody giving up as of yet. Thousands of folks working together, strangers helping strangers, and fighting the fight. I have seen several interviews and people are in good spirits, they are working hard...... I did not see one person blaming the government, or passing blame to someone else. Lets say a prayer for them, they are gonna have a long week. :cry: Shawn
 
Yes normally their are floods in Fargo, but never this bad. It is at 43 feet today and may get higher. I lived about 1/2 mile from the river when I lived there and my house was a 35 feet. So if it gets over the dike or if the dike breaks, my old house will have about 8 feet of water in it, and I couldn't buy flood insurance on it. I checked. The dikes hold it in town, but once the river is out of the city limits their are no dikes and the river will flood several miles as it is so flat. Lots and lots of farms 4 to 5 miles out may get hurt.
 
How is it going BRG? it has been a while. If it hits 43 feet I have heard that they will lose most of the city. Brian hows the family? Shawn
 
As far as I know that is not true about getting an F. They do have the schools closed though. Nearly all the students are helping out. I did here they have to be at least a Freshman to help at the sand bagging headquarters.
 
I bet if Fargo does get flooded entirely we won't hear the whining we heard from New Orleans.

At least those N. Dakotans are TRYING to stop it.

My hat's off to them.............
 
An A$$Hole (I admit the way I feel) bought some land Start to build by near a little creek _ Despite my feeling toward him I showed him photos I have from 1972 only the top of a pick-up sticking out of the Water where he was building... He knew better.

After a Flood he went crying to the Government.

I'm on the Government Board he cried to :(
Sometimes you just have to do dirty jobs.
 

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