YEAR AGO: Rafferty Dam Spewing Water - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

YEAR AGO: Rafferty Dam Spewing Water

One year ago, we showed you just how much water was gushing from Rafferty Dam in Canada - and raised the warning that releases from the Canadian dams were increasing.

It was Father's Day, 2011 - June 19th - that Jim Olson traveled to Estevan and found out from dam managers that a recent rain storm had forced them to open the dam gates wider than ever.
News that 18-thousand CFS of water was now coming from the dams caused Minot officials to call a press conference to inform everyone that a major flood was becoming more of a possibility.
It was at that press conference that Minot Pubic Works Director Alan Walter issued a promise - that he and other city workers would do everything possible to hold back the high water.

(Alan Walter, Minot Public Works Director) "We're looking at this stuff and being as prudent as we can and trying to save this city.  That's our goal - to save this city."

It was on that Sunday, June 19th, 2011 that we learned that the city would be trying to raise dikes to 11 or 12 thousand CFS but we also found out that work on the dike-raising would not begin until Monday because the Corps of Engineers said it needed time to mobilize the crews doing the work.

For us here at KX News - and for many people throughout the valley - Fathers Day 2011 was the day we remember as the time we became nearly certain that the city would flood.
And, as we'll find out tomorrow in our look back one year, that feeling was confirmed by facts the very next day.