North Dakota Souris/Mouse River Flooding - RV-Dreams Community Forum

Ckerr · RV-Dreams Family Member

North Dakota Souris/Mouse River Flooding

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

I am seeing lots of headlines on cnn.com and other places so it is getting national coverage. Record flood levels in Minot.

Sorry to hear you have family being affected.

Ckerr · RV-Dreams Family Member

Our timing must be off because we keep missing it. Glad to know there is some reporting though. There is record flood levels all along the Mouse River in ND and also the Missouri.

Some esimates say 80% of the state's farmland will be unplantable this year due to record moisture levels. I'm trying to figure how to pipe all that water down here where we're having record drought levels.

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

I watch the Seattle Times and Daily Olympian (Olympia, WA) newspapers online and both have prominent headlines. I can't tell you about TV since I find that TV news is either entertainment or opinion and rarely news, but that is just me. The internet is better for me, I can read the articles quickly and not have all the fluff and teasers of TV ("In the next hour we will tell you...."). I also follow up with internet searches if something doesn't feel correct. But you have to watch internet searches since both Google and Bing are profiling the searcher and prioritizing search results based on what they think you are looking for.

From Central California north the weather has been cooler and wetter than normal all spring with lots of rivers running high due to snow melt, but not at flood levels. But once you get as far east as North Dakota the floods are happening.

Ckerr · RV-Dreams Family Member

I'm with you Bill. I don't find TV news to be either very neutral in it's reporting or to cover the "news." Rather, they cover what they think will draw viewers and help ratings.

Interestingly enough in this case I'm finding the local communities facebook pages to be the best and most up-to-date source of local info. Just something those of us on the road looking for information on either hometowns or places of interest for other reasons might keep in mind.

-- Edited by Ckerr on Sunday 26th of June 2011 07:27:39 PM

janni · RV-Dreams Family Member

My daughter and I had homes in Minot about six years ago. I lived in the so called "flood" area but I just laughed it off since the last flood was in 1969. I saw a picture of a home across the street from it and there is nothing showing except a roof. Most surprising is the number of people evacuated and how few are living in the shelters. Very typical of ND. Everyone working together to help each other. I am 120 miles from there and there has been food drives and collections set up all over. The sign on the trailer says "We Love Minot!" My daughter and several from here will take part of their vacation or time off and go there and help. I sent homemade blankets and am waiting to see what they ask for. KXNews in Minot has a fb page with videos, pictures, and columns for people to designate where (north side, south side, or outside of town) they can help. Rumor that the President was going there today(unconfirmed)

Ckerr · RV-Dreams Family Member

Where are you at Janni?

My hometown of Velva (22 miles SE of Minot on 52) is completely evacuated until at least Friday. Through tons of hard work by folks the dikes were raised 3 feet and the town itself was saved. My family farm on the outskirts is pretty soaked though as are others outside the city itself. The amazing thing is that when they evacuated a town of 1000+ NO ONE ended up in the Red Cross shelter.

We're waiting for the water to go down and then will likely make plans to head that way to help with clean up.

Steve C · RV-Dreams Family Member

We went through the 500-year flood while living on the coast of North Carolina several years ago. Know what it is like. We had 34" in our garage. House was at 42". That is why we sold our waterfront home and moved inland.

Sorry to see your mom going through this. Will say little prayers for her and all the others that have been affected.

Steve

janni · RV-Dreams Family Member

Carol we are in Williston at this time. I am just amazed at all those strong people! Saying a prayer also.

BruceandTrisha · RV-Dreams Family Member

We are in mid-Missouri and the river finally won - flooded the lower campground and the fields of soybeans and corn. Funny thing is - across the river you can hear the drone of the machines working to protect the wildlife area. I love nature, love wildlife, but seems things are out of kelter here - crops that would produce food are being sacrificed.

Anyway, we are dealing with an empty campground and lots of water and muck. If you don't know what the muck is like, come walk along the edge where the water has been and you'll soon learn.

It looks like the river levels are going to remain steady for the next week - unless there's lots of rainfall. Don't really think we'll get back to normal levels until fall. Just hoping it goes down enough to reclaim the lower campground and bring campers back to us! We don't mind being by ourselves here - did it all winter - but it sure is fun to meet and connect with like-minded freedom lovers!