On June 22, 2011with the river rising and storms in the forecast, 11,000 residents evacuated Minot, N.D. The river, called the Souris in Canada and the Mouse in North Dakota, was already overflowing its banks after a heavy winter thaw and a wet spring. In the following days, the water overtopped levees and peaked at a record-breaking 1,561.72 feet, according to the Minot Daily News.
The flood that engulfed much of central North Dakota in June and July of 2011 is shaping up to be the state’s worst disaster on record. In Minot, a city of 40,000, the flood destroyed 4,100 homes. In nearby Burlington, more than a third of the town of 1,100 was under water. The catastrophe left 8,000 to 9,000 people homeless in central North Dakota.
