North Dakota Flooding Begins To Overtake Levees, Other Parts Of Country Under Water

The National Weather Service is reporting that historic flooding along the Souris River which crosses from Canada through North Dakota has begun to overtake levees in Minot, North Dakota, creating some of the biggest floods in the area that have ever been recorded.

In response to the flooding the NWS has issued a flash flood warning for the area and have urged residents to “move quickly” to evacuation zones.

On the official NWS Facebook page they wrote:

Levee protection in the city of Minot averages a height of 1,558 feet, with some low spots between 1,556 and 1,558 feet. Based on no additional rainfall, no unexpected changes in upstream releases, and no unforeseen breaches or failures of levees, the current forecast suggests the 1,556 foot level will be reached sometime this afternoon and that the record level of 1,558 feet will be broken, fully overtopping the levees by Thursday morning.

Wunderground reports that the flood is a “1-in-100 to 1-in-200 year flood.”

The National Weather Service has also reported record flooding along the Missouri River, writing:

….in Williston, N.D., the Missouri River is at 30.6 feet, 2.5 feet above the previous record, with only 1.5 feet remaining before the levee protecting Williston becomes overtopped. The current forecast has the river cresting and falling to 30 feet by tomorrow afternoon.

Flooding has reach unprecedented levels in the United States with Brownville, Nebraska last week experiencing a record of their own while locations in Plattsmouth and Nebraska have experienced the largest amount of flooding since 1993 levels set records of their own.

The Army Corp of Engineers have warned that increased water levels could lead to more flooding in the days and weeks to come.