NWS Predicts Major Flooding With Winter Snow Melt
With another potentially massive flood looming in North
Dakota's Red River Valley and other Midwestern states, members of
Civil Air Patrol's North Central Region are standing ready.
Melting snow from larger-than-normal amounts of snowfall this
winter is expected to flood the Red River Valley in the weeks
ahead. Forecasters predict it may be worse this year than last,
which is bad news for Fargo, ND, and Moorhead, MN. Both cities
withstood massive flooding a year ago, with the Red River that
flows through them reaching a record 40.84 feet in Fargo.
National Weather Service hydrologists say there is a 98 percent
probability of major flooding in Fargo and Moorhead and other
cities throughout the Midwest this spring, as snow melts and rivers
and their tributaries begin to thaw. "Some rivers in South Dakota
and Nebraska have already reached or are over flood stage," said
North Central Region Incident Commander Col. Joe Casler. "As you
know that doesn't necessarily mean they are out of their banks, but
the possibility is definitely present."
Civil Air Patrol's Nebraska Wing has already flown two sorties "to
check the ice jamming/flooding potential on the Platte River in
eastern Nebraska," according to Wing Commander Col. Bob Todd, who
flew the most recent sortie. "On the region level, we developed a
new flood response plan and will implement that should it be
needed," Casler said. "Iowa is having an exercise in two and a half
weeks that will focus on a flood response and aerial photography of
vulnerable infrastructure in the eastern part of the state. As we
saw in North Dakota last spring, this will be a very challenging
time of the year for our members, but I know they will respond
well."
CAP's North Central Region includes seven Midwestern states - North
Dakota, Minnesota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and
Missouri. CAP members in all seven states will be prepared to
duplicate its extraordinary efforts of a year ago, Casler
said.
Flying in support of the state of North Dakota in the spring of
2009, CAP aircraft and aircrews from all 11 squadrons in the North
Dakota Wing took more than 5,000 digital photos of the Red River
and other major rivers in the state, including the Missouri, Knife,
Heart, Souris, Sheyenne, James, Wild Rice and Maple Rivers.
The monumental effort involved North Dakota Wing's five
aircraft, flying out of bases at Minot, Dickinson, Bismarck, Fargo
and Grand Forks to provide the state's emergency responders with a
"real-time" picture of the flooding.
From March 20 to April 16, CAP aircrews made 95 flights totaling
230 hours, capturing and sending photos to the State Emergency
Operations Center. The CAP imagery alerted decision makers of
potential damage to vital infrastructure, which bolstered the
emergency response. The 2009 flood relief response prompted Greg
Wilz, state director of emergency services, to declare, "CAP is
like the cavalry for North Dakota. We couldn't have responded as
well as we have without them." In addition to the aerial
surveillance, the North Dakota Wing assisted citizens on the ground
with sandbagging in flooded areas in Fargo, Grand Forks, Bismarck
and Beulah. Other volunteers from North Dakota's neighboring
Minnesota and South Dakota wings also helped.