Minot Sees Recovery After Record Flood

The Minot Disaster Recovery Center has moved to new quarters. An announcement by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reports that it will reopen on Tuesday. That is just one of the signs of progress in Minot after the record flooding of June and early July. A second is the coming end of debris pickup under the FEMA contract. General debris pickup ends Sept. 12 and pickup for hazardous materials ends Sept. 20.

During the flood flight, thousands of yards of temporary levees were built. They are being removed, and with the owner's permission, Army Corps of Engineers' contractors are removing privately constructed levees as well. The Minot Daily News is reporting that the goal is to have all these structures removed by Oct. 1.

The Corps of Engineers is also building sites for temporary manufactured housing. FEMA is planning on 600 units in Minot and the Corps is charged with contracting the site construction and utilities installation. Some FEMA homes will be located on private sites, as well.

The North Dakota National Guard, along with the Minnesota National Guard, ended flood operations on August 12. After a 32 day stint in the spring of 2011, the Guard was recalled for the June flooding and the final total was 114 days of flood duty. That comes to nearly 67,000 workdays for these citizen soldiers.

As reported by the Minot Daily News, the pet evacuation shelter that was created at the North Central Research Extension Center closed August 31. At one point over 500 pets were being housed after their human families have been forced to relocate. For some 70 days, the volunteers at the shelter fed, exercised and cared for the animals.

The North Dakota winter is closing in and throughout the Mouse River Valley authorities and private citizens are hurrying to prepare. The Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency are working with state and local officials to clear debris, provide temporary housing and many other flood recovery tasks before the snow flies.