The Mouse River Flood: Ten Years Later
This article was originally published in the National Disaster Resilience Progress Reports for Minot, North Dakota.
Ten years can feel like an eternity, the blink of an eye, or sometimes both. It has now been ten years since we experienced a flood that was catastrophic to Minot and the surrounding communities; but it did not break us, nor destroy our spirit. In fact, the flood brought us together and proved that the people of our region knew how to work together, pull ourselves up and move forward stronger than before. Ten years is an appropriate time to reflect back, but also rededicate ourselves to building a better future.
The Mouse River flooding in Minot was devastating and still remains active in the collective memory of the community.
As we approach the ten-year anniversary of the flood in June, we highlight a few of the ways we continue to come together for effective change and demonstrate our transition from flooded city to resilient community. Minot’s recovery has been aided in part by various programs backed by the more than $177m in grant funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which includes the $74.3m the City won through the National Disaster Resilience (NDR) Competition in January 2016. NDR funds are being utilized throughout the city in accordance with the NDR Action Plan to address recovery and resilience needs in areas most impacted by the flood and to foster greater resilience in the future within the entire community to drive greater sustainability and economic prosperity.
Acquisition of Flooded Properties Program
Since the initial HUD grant of $67.5m to the City of Minot in 2012, the City has worked with the Souris River Joint Board in partnership with the State Water Commission to use their leverage funds to acquire flood-damaged properties throughout the valley and move these residents out of harm’s way allowing for the construction of the phases of the Mouse River Flood Protection Plan; the City acquired 83 homes with the first allocation. Later in January 2014, the City received just over $35m in its second allocation of funds stemming from the Hurricane Sandy declaration, which enabled the City to acquire 205 more properties. Since March 2017 thru May 31st of this year, the City has used NDR funds to acquire 187 additional properties. The acquisition and demolition of these 475 properties, which includes single family homes, commercial/industrial buildings, multifamily housing units, and vacant lots has allowed the City to have better access to flood control options while protecting flood victims from future flooding and devastation. Acquisition efforts continue as the City of Minot and the Souris River Joint Board work towards starting more phases of the Flood Protection Plan.
Rehabilitation and Reconstruction of Flooded Properties Programs
In the first allocation, the City assisted low-and-moderate income single family homeowners whose homes were damaged by the flood to either rehabilitate or completely rebuild their homes. Funds were made available as a forgivable loan. These two projects helped many families remain in their homes and neighborhoods and recover from the losses suffered from the flood, all while keeping communities together during the recovery and rebuilding. Ultimately, this project rehabilitated 86 homes and reconstructed 31.
Also in the first allocation, the Small Rental Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Program rehabbed, or reconstructed small rental (1-4 units) housing units damaged by the flood. Funds were made available as a forgivable loan with the condition that units were required to be leased to persons of low and moderate income for a minimum of five years. This program fulfilled the need for affordable housing, which had been identified by the City of Minot as a focus for a resilient community. Ultimately, five properties were reconstructed: 4 single family housing units and 1 multifamily triplex; and seven properties were rehabilitated: 2 single family housing units, 3 duplexes, and 2 triplexes.
Resilient Homebuyer Program
Following the 2011 flood, one of Minot’s most pressing recovery needs was the demand for affordable housing, outside of the flood inundation area to replace homes like those lost when the valley flooded and rebuild neighborhoods that were the very fabric of the city of Minot. The goal of the Resilient Homebuyer Program is to provide eligible homeowners and tenants affected by the flood and the buyouts an opportunity to purchase homes so they can remain in Minot. So far, 169 people have applied for the program, and 41 people have closed on their new homes.
Ten years has given the Minot community the chance to move forward, but every individual who survived the flood has bittersweet memories of that snapshot in time and the difficult recovery following it: the backbreaking work of cleanup, the heartbreak of photos and heirlooms lost to the Souris, and the realization that their beloved neighborhoods would change. Nobody could have predicted how the flood would change Minot, but these HUD grants have enabled the community to show how resilient it is and to foster a legacy of thoughtful, innovative, and resilient approaches to addressing future risks. Fortunately, the lasting impact of the City’s efforts extends far beyond this past decade of recovery and ushers in a future celebrating the resiliency of our community.