Upper Midwest Braces For Severe Spring Flooding

[Purveyor]

Source: Associated Press

(03-05) 21:39 PST Fargo, N.D. (AP) --

Salesmen in Fargo are hawking products with names like the Muscle Wall and the Sandbagging Buddy. Emergency workers in Keokuk, Iowa, are planning to barricade the water treatment plant with limestone boulders. The farmers' cooperative in Quincy, Ill., is moving grain inland to keep it dry.

Spring could bring disastrous flooding again to the Upper Midwest, government forecasters are warning. And folks along the Red, the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers are taking precautions, especially after calamities last year and the year before.

"This is like having a two-month warning that a tornado is going to hit your house," said Richard Thomas, who lives near Fargo. "There's always the possibility we'll be just fine, but it's bothering me. It's stressful."

The National Weather Service said heavy snow cover and ground that is already saturated could lead to severe flooding in as little as a few weeks. Exactly how severe will depend on how fast the snow melts and how heavy the spring rains are.

In Fargo and neighboring Moorhead, Minn., an area of about 200,000 people, the chances of major flooding were projected Friday at about 90 percent. The probability of record flooding was put at 19 percent. Elsewhere across the Upper Midwest, the threat is less dire but still serious.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/03/05/national/a130923S97.DTL

[madrchsod]

1. a lot depends on the spring rains in southern wisconsin , northern

and central illinois since most of the snow has melted and the ground is saturated. iowa still has snow cover so they maybe in bigger trouble.

the rock and illinois rivers have set all time records in the last 5-6 years....yup the climate is changing...northern illinois has gained two growing season in the last 20 years...

[Odin2005]

2. Aw shit, not again!

:(

[elocs]

3. Where I live the paper says "'ideal' melt, local flood outlook improves"

http://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/article_6d69f24e-28d9-11df-ac7e-001cc4c002e0.html

A nearly ideal spring thaw is easing runoff burdens on area waterways and is credited with lessening the risk of flooding, though trouble still could come on the Mississippi River.

The potential for area flooding is a bit higher than average, according to a National Weather Service outlook issued Friday.

Prolonged droughts have contributed to low soil moisture in the Black, Trempealeau and Wisconsin river basins. The snow pack has been melting gradually during the day and refreezing at night, making for only light runoff burdens on streams and rivers, said hydrologist Mike Welvaert.

Daytime temperatures in the 40s with nights below freezing - which dominate the immediate forecast - are good in the short term, Welvaert said. But the longer snow remains on the ground, the more likely a rapid melt.

I live in La Crosse, Wi which is on the Mississippi River. It is also known as the 7 Rivers Region so there is lots of water here. My city has a large marsh in the center of town which acts as a natural reservoir for floodwater and helps to prevent severe flooding on the north side. Although I live less than 1 block from the Black River which flows into the Mississippi 2 miles from my house it would take a monster flood before water even reached my street. Low areas around here nearly always are flooded in the spring.

[emmadoggy]

7. Yep, we've been having a nice gentle melt so far, haven't we?

:hi:

[ensho]

4. sadly it will probably be worse then last yr.

wishing them well

[jwirr]

5. NE MN is melting slowly every day and if it keeps up there will be less

threat south of us.

[smoogatz]

6. We're having a nice gradual snow melt here in west-central WI

Still plenty on the ground, and it's actually been pretty dry in terms of precip. The river's up like you'd expect, but nowhere near flood stage. Now, if we got a week or two of rain, that'd be a different story.