The Royce Files

 The Red River had crested in Fargo at somewhere around 39 feet a week and half ago. The levees and dikes held back the angry waters of the Red for yet another year. However, there was at least one causality. A man sandbagging his home died of a heart attack. It wasn't in town. Someplace north of town. Oakport to be exact. That same weekend my room-mate and I were driving north out of town on I-29. We were heading to Grand Forks. However we were slightly impeded when the road just north of town became a flood-way. Nearly 6 inches of water covered I-29 north of Fargo to a little bit past Argusville. It was a scary drive. We could not see pavement for miles and miles. Plus it was raining and it appeared a current was pushing the water over the road. It took almost an hour to traverse 6 miles of flooded interstate. It was scary. I didn't have any ID with me nor my camera. I just prayed. We made it to Grand Forks. The road eventually closed a few hours after. The above picture wa...

Another flood continues to descend upon the region. A bit later than previous but that gave us more time. Sandbag dikes are going up this week. I think the crest of around 40' is forecasted for April 10th. The photo at the right is from almost a month ago. The snow was nearly gone but then-wham! Another snow storm and then another and another. Not sure how much snow we got this winter. Someone told me something close to 7'. In the long term, flood mitigation plans seem to be gaining opponents. The current plan on the table- the diversion with water retention- has critics north, south and west coming together to stop this idea. Changes have been made to address "downstream" communities but apparently it is not enough. The whole process appears to be heading into a Garrison Diversion -like conflict in which there is a possibility that not one drop of the Red River will be stopped from overwhelming the Valley during a flood. We are a hardy people and would accept it ...

Lots of things to discusss. So let's get on with this digest. Red River Basin Flood Spring has finally sprung upon the landscape on the Great Plains. The always anticipated spring snow storm never arrived. The flood waters continue to recede in Red River Valley. As of yesterday I could see most of the paths by the river. This by no means will abate the continuing debate concerning future flood control. It was just heating up as the crest arrived a few weeks ago. A North Dakota diversion seems very popular. It gets more good press then a Minnesota diversion which the Corps of Engineers have stated would be the most cost effective solution. Neither solution seemed to answer adequately the concerns of pushing floodwaters further north . Our hydrology correspondant, DJ George, has advocated some form of water retention for years and not only because of flooding but to increase available water sources in the Valley. U.S. Representative Colin Peterson seemed to echo DJ ...

This is a pretty scary picture of rising Red River taken early this morning.