LISBON, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – Flood Preparations are well underway in Ransom County and the City of Lisbon. Several meetings took place last week, including a visit from the US Army Corps of Engineers. I3G Media reporter Erick Johnson talked with Ransom County Sheriff Darren Benneweis recently and got an update on how concerned officials are about this year’s flood.
Sheriff Benneweis started by going through the projected river numbers that they got last week from the Corps of Engineers. He said the Sheyenne River in Lisbon had a 25% chance of reaching 22.4 feet. A 50% chance of reaching 20.5 feet. And a 95% chance of reaching 15 feet. In 2009 it reached 22.8 feet, but that was ice affected. It was 19.7 without the ice jams. He said the Maple River in Enderlin was projected to reach 13.3 feet.
Sheriff Benneweis said those are some concerning numbers. But he said the current weather is helping, warm during the day and back to below freezing at night.
When asked what is concerning him the most, overland flooding or river flooding. He responded overland flooding. He said there is almost constant change with what is happening with the projections from the Baldhill Dam. He said there is still a lot of snow below the Dam and once that starts to melt that could affect everything. Saying that will affect the roads and river levels.
Sheriff Benneweis said they plan to be proactive to fight this year’s flood. That means sandbags, 49,000 of them. He says they are asking for volunteers the weekend of April 5th at the old County shop.
Hours of operation:
April 5th 1pm to 5pm
April 6th 8am to 3pm
April 7th 12pm to 5pm
He says to bring your own shovel and wear appropriate clothing. He also says that anyone that wants to help can come. Even if they can’t lift a sandbag, they will find something for you to do to help.