At a time when a permanent flood protection project is moving forward quickly, another group is taking a wider look at the problem of spring flooding. The Red River Basin Commission is holding meetings all over the area, the Dakotas, Minnesota, even Canada, to develop a flood plan for the entire region affected by red river flooding.
Tonight, about 35 people showed up in Dilworth for meeting number 18. And organizers heard a lot about how neighbors don't want a diversion project to protect Fargo and Moorhead, to hurt other communities. People also made it clear a permanent fix will have to include water storage, to keep as much water out of the river as possible.
Yohe “People really have a sense that we're all in this together - awful lot of stuff about upstream storage somewhere else though - holding the water on the land as long as you can where it falls - there are strategies like that we hear again and again and again.”
Langseth “The people up north of F-M have a legitimate concern - another 4 inches on top of a very large flood - they can't handle that so we gotta figure out a way to keep that 4 inches from happening.”
The Basin Commission is going to compile all of the feedback into a report for lawmakers, so state governments can have some direction as they plan region-wide flood protection.
