Flood of the Red River Basin in 2009 and Effectiveness of Rapid Mitigation Efforts

Abstract

2009, the city government ordered a mandatory evacuation of the residents living in certain areas of the city, and public schools, including three universities in the region, were closed for up to two weeks. The Red River originates at the Bois de Sioux and Otter Tail rivers in the northern United States and flows through Fargo and Grand Forks, North Dakota, toward Winnipeg, Canada. The river is 885 km long, including 635 km in the United States and 255 km in Canada Minnesota Department of Natural Resources 2009. Given that the U.S. Midwest is geographically flat, the Red River Basin may be the critical floodplain. Thus, moderate floods of the Red River Basin have regularly occurred during the past 110 years. The peak was the 1897 flood that recorded a crest of 12.2 m Flood Information Center FIC 2009. Fargo is the largest city in North Dakota with a population of approximately 100,000 U.S. Census Bureau 2010. The Red River flows along the east side of the city, as shown in Fig. 1. This forum discusses the 2009 flood of the Red River Basin in the city of Fargo and the effectiveness of the rapid efforts to minimize the flood damage. Of particular interest are the forensic investigations into the extreme event, which attributed the flood to four major sources: the sudden change of temperature, snow melting, topography, and soil properties. Postflood activities are briefly discussed.