YEAR AGO: "We're comfortable..." - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

YEAR AGO: "We're comfortable..."

One year ago today, people living along the Mouse River in the US got some good news - a rain storm had brought less precipitation than expected and the crest prediction was lowered.

At a press conference that had been delayed from the previous day, we pressed the Corps of Engineers about the city's levees and the water flow levels.
We wondered why construction wasn't going on right now - June 15th, 2011 - to build up the city's emergency levees and be able to handle more water than was already predicted.
The response was one of the most memorable quotes of the year.

(Bonnie Greenleaf - Corps of Engineers) "No system is infallible, but at this point we are comfortable with the level of protection that we have."

In addition, we were told that the city's levees - already built up to handle 10,000 CFS, could be raised further in the event of higher releases from Canada.

(Bonnie Greenleaf - Corps of Engineers) "Yes, the emergency levees can be added to and we will watch the forecast and take action if that was needed."

As we'll see in the coming days, the assurance that levees could be raised further proved wrong as the Mouse River flood of 2011 was just getting ready to roar.