2011

The 2011 flood blog can be found at
http://redriverpembina11.blogspot.com

Mother Nature

Well, the Red River didn't get us, but Mother Nature did. Last Saturday, May 29, Pembina got 6.8 inches of rain in a couple hours. I heard them report on the news that 75% of the homes in town have water in their basements. We had 3 inches of water in ours. This is the first time in 20 years that we've had water in our house.

As you drive around town you can see piles of soaked carpet, water logged belongings and furniture lining the streets. Some had sewer back-up, some just seepage.

Because the river level is so high the flood gates in town were closed (the Red River did contribute a little) so the coulee behind our house (along Chippewa St) filled with water. These "during and after" pictures were taken by Jamie Meagher - Thanks Jamie - the house on the "lakefront" belongs to Cam and Kris Wilwand.

 

Passing Through

Today some of the dirt was removed from the dike closures in South Pembina to allow local traffic to pass through. The road closed signs are still up and the road will remain closed (except to local traffic) until the river level drops to 47 ft.

It's time for the clean-up to begin. The unused sandbags will be moved to storage and kept for future use.

Crest??

It appears that the river may have crested at 49.5 ft. It went down a few hundredths today even though it rained and was windy. Things are looking good!

Slowing Down

There were 18 people at the flood committee meeting today. Things are really slowing down. The river is at about 49.5 ft and holding.

There's some rain in the forecast for the next couple days but it doesn't sound like it will be too much.

The new pump is doing a good job in So Pembina. The water is only in the ditch behind the outfield fence now.

The sun was shining this afternoon lots of people were out walking, riding bikes and enjoying spring!

Not much else to write.

A Beautiful Sunday

It was a beautiful day today. The sun was shining the temperature was up around 50. The river was at 48.49 ft. when I got up this morning.

Yesterday, the city bought a new 6 in. pump. They put it to use today pumping out water from inside the dike around the baseball field in So Pembina. It's working great!

Below are a few pictures I took at the golf course. The greens and tee boxes are dry (except #4) but the fairways have some water on them.

The carts were moved to high ground on the dike.

Looking over the pond by the #9 green south towards Dennis Warner's.

Looking down the #1 fairway.

From the #6 green you can see the #4 green in the distance.

From the #6 green looking at #6,7 and 9 fairways.

Training

This afternoon some members of the US Coast Guard were in town to train members of the Pembina Fire Department to use our airboat for water rescue. After some instruction at the fire hall they put the four units into the water north of town where the Red has left it's banks at Airborne Alley (near Ed Haugen's).

Pembina Fire and Rescue Unit