Seriously?!?!?

The Red River Valley is on flood alert once again.

Unbelievable.

Feels like we just went through a flood and just a few months ago finished cleaning up our community from the flood.

Oh wait...we did.

I think it was about July/August until streets looked 'normal' again around town and all signs of clay dikes (levees) were cleaned up and the ginormous potholes from the clay/sand hauling trucks were patched.

And here we go again.

Due to a very wet November, the ground once again froze with very saturated soil. We don't have typical run-of-the-mill soil here. In the Red River Valley, we have clay. It holds water unbelievably well. This is a good thing from a farming standpoint. The dark rich soil with high clay content are some of the reasons this area is known as "The Breadbasket of the World". The RRV has some of the richest farmland in the world, thanks to glaciers of 11,000+ years ago and ancient Lake Agassiz. Yes, this area is the bottom of an old lake bed.

Great place to build communities, right?

Anyway, we had a lot of snow - about the same as last year - with high water content in the snow and now rapid melt conditions. Since clay soil holds on to moisture oh-so-well, it is next to impossible for the ground to dry out and for the water to be absorbed into the ground. That 'little' fact combined with the fact that this area is as flat as a tabletop and we have prime flood conditions.

Sandbags have been worked on since March 1. They are being placed into neighborhoods tonight. Trav is out placing sandbags somewhere in Moorhead tonight.

As of tonight, it is anticipated the first Red River crest will be Saturday @ 38 feet (flood stage starts at 18 feet). Last year we were 40.84 feet. That 2+ feet makes a big difference, so 38 feet is very do-able with a moderate amount of sandbags.

It's too soon to know yet if we'll have multiple crests. We had two last year and the second was higher than the first.

The City of Moorhead has a pretty good site if you want to follow: City of Moorhead Flood Info. River levels are on there. I think this is the most fascinating table: River Level Trends.

Okay, I just discovered something rather disturbing. It's pretty sad when we're all walking around saying the water level will 'only' get to 38 feet. I just realized on that nifty little graph that 38 feet will get us to #4 on the record books. Good grief. Ya think it's time for permanent flood protection around here, folks?!?!? This is shaping up to be five 'historical crests' since 1997.

(Stepping off my soap box...).

Keep in mind that our home is very safe. The river would need to get to 43+ feet (and dikes breaching) for us to see any river water in our neighborhood. Overland flooding (picture a sea of water coming towards you - it's actually water all over fields, but you can't tell there is a field underneath - it looks like the ocean...well minus the sand, waves and any hint of warm weather) is a threat for many as well. We seem to be safe from any overland flooding for another year.

Okay, time for me to find something comedic to watch.