2013 Flood Season: more coverage

Red River flood risk bumped up

by Dan Gunderson, Minnesota Public Radio

MOORHEAD, Minn. — A new flood outlook shows a small increase in the spring flood risk for the Red River Valley.

The risk of major flooding is higher for most locations in the Red River Valley because of recent snow. For Fargo-Moorhead the chance of major flooding went from 79 percent two weeks ago to 88 percent.

But major flooding as defined by the National Weather Service does not pose significant risk for the communities. There's still only a 5 percent chance the Red River will reach a water level requiring a lot of sandbags or emergency levees.

Fargo and Moorhead spent millions of dollars in the past decade removing homes near the Red River and building permanent levees. Those efforts reduced the flood risk for many neighborhoods.

The National Weather Service says the long-range weather forecast is for above-normal precipitation and below-normal temperatures.