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We usually hear about floods that happen from rain storms, but sometimes we will have one that may be caused by melting of snow. This very thing happened in the winter of 1996-97 from a succession of winter storms that piled up massive amounts of snow in what is called the floodplain of the Dakotas. In this year alone, it received a record amount of 117 inches with 98.6 inches to fall on two towns respectively over the winter. As the winter got colder the Red River that flows north into Lake Winnipeg started to freeze and this would cause ice jams from water that is flowing from further south to be backed up against this ice jam. Eventually it started to flood. As a result this was predicted to crest at Grand Forks with a crest of 49 feet, but they were wrong and it crested at 54 feet. The residents of Grand Forks had built 52 feet barriers and put in dykes with sandbags to hold back this water that they were told that would hit and, brother, it sure did. It flooded 3 miles inland, and all of the people had to be evacuated from Grand Forks and all towns along this flood line. The townspeople were lucky that no lives were lost, but all of these people that lived in this 3-mile radius lost everything that they owned. This massive evacuation that took place numbered about 52,000 people. This flood started in or on April 18th and the waters eventually began to subside on the 23rd of April. By then, however, the damage was as great that the clean up was massive. 20,000 volunteers came from all over to help with the cleanup and to help relocate the ones that wanted to leave. This spring flood of 1997 will be in many people's hearts and minds, who still live in these areas for many years to come, and most of them hope to never have this happen again in their lifetimes. I know that if I lived in these areas I would be hoping for the same thing, but if I did live in this area I would probably have moved out of the area never to return. Flood water and the damage that happens to people that live in the area can be very costly in their belongings and also to family and family members as some can lose both.
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Aydan Corkern is a writer of many topics, visit some of her sites, like water damage concordia and flood damage cleanup breckenridge.
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