Recent spring rain and an early April snowstorm got people in the Red River Valley a little nervous about flooding…and there has been some minor flooding this spring, but nothing compared to the record-setting flood of 1997. But as Dr. Leon Osborne, professor of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of North Dakota and Director of the University’s Regional Weather Information Center recalls, the winter leading up to the spring flooding of ’97 was a lot snowier than this winter.

Osborne actuality: “By mid January we had already had roughly 5 major blizzards and had already started to become fairly unprecedented in recent times. By the end of January we were starting to develop contingency plans in response to anticipated major flooding. At that point we did not anticipate that it would be record flooding but we felt that by the end of January that we were likely going to see floods of at least the magnitude or close to the magnitude of what we’d seen in ’78 and ’79.”

On April 4th as towns up and down the valley were shoring up their dikes and otherwise battling the flood, Blizzard Hannah, the 8th and final blizzard of the season came rolling through the region, toppling power poles, closing roads and adding snow, ice and rain to an already desperate situation. How did Dr. Osborne feel this latest blizzard affected the overall flood outlook?

Osborne actuality: “Personally I believe that it maybe gave us a 10 % boost, but we had already surveyed the amount of snow that was already remaining in fields and in windrows. We were already going to have a major flood. I think it might have added another foot or so to the crest, but from the standpoint of the impact it really delayed things more than enhancing things. It was just that it brought everything into a very sharp focus by the early part of April and likely in most people’s minds, removed all doubt.”

On this date, April 17th, 1997 a Forum headline read. “Forks Residents Don’t Like What They See to the South”. The next day the first of several dike failures occurred in the Forks and we’ll have more about that in other datebooks this week. But even in the face of massive devastation and destruction of property in Grand Forks, Dr. Osborne and others who remained to man their posts during the flood fight realize that it’s the people and the relationships that were formed and survived that are truly important.

Osborne actuality: “We were an operational program throughout the entire flood. We never shut down. We maintained our operation throughout the entire winter and throughout the entire flood. I was very proud of the people. I think that’s the number one thing I’d have to say is the staff that we had working were just truly phenomenal. They worked up to the point of evacuation of the city. Some stayed with me and kept the facility running whenever there was a mandatory evacuation. And, it’s…there are a lot of memories of that time period and a lot of friendships were developed.”

By Merrill Piepkorn

Sources: The Forum, April 17, 1997
Interview with Dr. Leon Osborne
The book, “Red River Rising” by Ashley Shelby

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