Year Ago Today: Moving Back Home - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Year Ago Today: Moving Back Home

June Third, 2011 was a big day for many Minot residents.

It was the day the city told them they could start moving back into their homes.
Thousands had been ordered to evacuate earlier in the week, but now, they were hauling boxes of belongings back into their homes - happy that they were dry.

(Melissa Sposito/Minot Resident) "It's good to be back. I feel really lucky that we were on the edge and not close to the river like some others. We've lucked out compared to a lot of people."

The move back home came only for people on the outskirts of the evacuation zones.
And it came with a warning from Minot Mayor Curt Zimbelman.

(Curt Zimbelman - Mayor of Minot) "We are a long way from the water being a level where we can relax or be comfortable.  If you are currently at a location where you are staying and it is working, remain where you are until the water goes down."

It would take a few days for the river level to drop enough to allow everyone who had been ordered to evacuate to move back home.
And they were advised to "move back light" as a way to be ready in case another evacuation had to be ordered.
That's what was happening with the Flood of 2011, one year ago today.