Spring Floods

I remember being amazed a few years ago as I watched video of the Red River continually rise and damage homes, roads, land and the lives of people in North Dakota and Minnesota.  The combination of the spring thaw and spring rain spilled the water far beyond its banks and into many communities like Grand Forks, a city of 52,000 that sits right along side the river.  There were countless stories of the good-natured mid-western folks helping each other out.  It was one of those all for one type moments that we often see in times of crisis.  The people haven't changed but the story is becoming played.

Oslo, Minnesota will become an island for up to a week as the Red River has completely encircled the small town.  The last boat of out of town left yesterday, leaving residents who stayed behind miles from dry land.  It's the third straight year this has happened.  I understand not wanting to leave but at some point you would think people would get tired of this.

I happened to catch briefly on the news that residents along the river started making sandbags two months ago.  As if this has become an annual event.  And I caught this picture.

It's a picture of I-29, a highway that runs north and south near the river.  As of now it looks like this for miles.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but how exactly do you drive on a road you can't see.  It's almost like residents have become so use to this that driving on what looks like a lake is normal.  Surrounding your house with bags is regular routine.  Missing work and school is virtually penciled in.  When do you realize all the effort and money being put into this is going towards winning an unwinnable fight?

I don't have figures but there have been plenty of towns along the Mississippi that have been virtually bought out.  The people pack up and leave and move to a place further away from the river where flooding will not be a constant threat.  It's one thing to live in tornado alley or along the Atlantic seaboard where there are going to be occasional close calls.  It's another to deal with flooding every single year or wonder what might happen next with every drop of rain. 

But that is life in the mid-west.  They experience what has to be some of the harshest weather in the country.  Take Grand Forks.  Since January of this year, 19 days did not get above 5 degrees.  For the first time this year they hit 60 this week.  They will get 2-4 inches of snow on Friday.  Their winters are often bitterly cold with high winds that whip over the flat land causing frequent blizzards and wind chills ranging from -30 to -50.  Their summers can be down right hot when the jet stream lifts and produces incredibly unstable air leading to intense thunderstorms and tornadoes.  Without protection of mountains and with no large bodies of water in sight, temperature swings can be dramatic, at times changing 30 to 40 degrees within minutes.  They have hit 100 in every month from May to September and the difference between their record high and record low is 152 degrees.  Perhaps a little flooding isn't as big of a deal as I initially thought.  

Either way, you can check off Grand Forks as a potential relocation destination.