Flood Outlook For Spring 2013 | Video

Julie Leonardi | 3/23/2013

Ever since the disaster in 2011, people in Minot and the surrounding areas worry about future flooding. The potential for rising water levels has gone up all over the Ward County area.

KMOT Meteorologist Amanda Lindquist explained the situation, "We`re looking at the potential for minor to moderate flooding in the Minot area. Downstream of Velva we could potentially see some major flooding this year."

It`s almost April and temperatures still remain low, which could cause problems for the spring run-off.

"Right now along the Souris River we have at least a foot of snow on the ground. That`s the current snow pack and that`s more typical of late January, early February as opposed to late March. So we haven`t had the melting that we usually see by this point in the spring. What that means is, the closer we get into April, the quicker all that snow is going to melt and not be able to absorb into the soil that easily."

Minot residents don`t need to worry this time around. There`s a less than 10 percent chance for us to see anything other than minor flooding.

"Minor flooding means that we`re going to have minimal impacts on the community, no evacuations necessarily needed but we could see some inundation of properties surrounding the river."

But more rural areas like Sawyer have a 27 percent chance of exceeding more moderate flooding.

"Moderate flooding essentially means we could have damaged property to higher grounds, we could have some evacuations of people living near the river, and definitely see some inundation of nearby buildings and structures."

Some Sawyer residents say they`re not concerned with the possibility of another flood.

Sawyer native, Geraldine Heinz, isn’t too worried about the run-off. "I figure if it`s going to flood me, it`s going to flood me. I`ve been through it before and you can`t do anything about it.”

Preparing for flooding, whether it be minor or moderate is nothing new for the residents of Sawyer.

"Except for the few times it hasn`t flooded, I expect water to get somewhere, they kind of push everything down and with the extra snow this year, I wouldn`t be surprised if it flooded."

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