Natural Disasters in Manitoba - 2009 Red River Flood (Paperback)

Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: The 2009 Red River flood along the Red River of the North in North Dakota and Minnesota in the United States and Manitoba in Canada brought record flood levels to the Fargo-Moorhead area. The flood is a result of saturated and frozen ground, Spring snowmelt exacerbated by additional rain and snow storms, and virtually flat terrain. Communities along the Red River prepared for more than a week as the U.S. National Weather Service continuously updated the predictions for the city of Fargo, North Dakota with an increasingly higher projected river crest. Originally predicted to reach a level of near 43 feet (13 m) at Fargo by March 29, the river in fact crested at 40.82 feet (12.44 m) at 12:15 a.m. March 28, and started a slow decline. The river continued to rise to the north as the crest moved downstream. The Red River flows from the United States into Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada. Unlike the vast majority of rivers in the United States, it flows northward, which means melting snow and river ice, as well as runoff from its tributaries, often create ice dams, which cause the river to overflow. The valley is essentially flat, leading to overland flooding, with no high ground on which to take refuge. Ground which was already saturated when it froze at the onset of winter, melting snow which could not be absorbed by the frozen ground, and additional precipitation from high winter snow fall, a rain storm on March 22 and a later snowstorm, high temperature snow melt rate, are reasons for the serious flooding. A low-pressure area caused the rain storm on March 22 and by March 25 a total of 15 to 25 cm (6 to 10 inches) fell in the Winnipeg area, and 20 to 30 cm (8 to 12 inches) in southern Manitoba. In northeastern North Dakota and northwestern M... More: http://booksllc.net/?id=22058185