East Grand Forks, resident Howard Hoff waded through streets flooded by the rising Red River, in April 1997. Hoff was one of only 250 out of 9,000 residents who have refused to leave their homes. (S.TAKUSHI-ST.PAUL PIONEER PRESS/AFP/Getty Images)
The flood was a slow-motion disaster, the underpinning of which was a series of blizzards during the previous winter. When the snow melted, the southern end of the Red River flooded. Rain followed, then a freeze. It took almost two weeks for the disaster to reach its zenith in Grand Forks, N.D. By then, the skies were clear, the temperatures warm, and the disaster immense.
People of the flood
by
Dan Gunderson, Minnesota Public Radio
April 13, 2007
In 1997, Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Gunderson spent several weeks covering the Red River flooding. He prepared this audio montage of the people who fought it.
Dan Gunderson is based in Moorhead, Minn.
