Flash Flooding and Flood in North Dakota, June 19 to 27, 2000

Six inch diameter tree branches were blown down.

A series of training thunderstorms brought heavy rain to the Fargo area. A total of 6.82 inches was reported at the ASOS site at the Fargo airport. 7.31 inches was reported by the official observer in north Moorhead. This is believed to be a new 24 hour rainfall record for the Fargo-Moorhead area. The heavy rain halted traffic, inundated storm sewers, and knocked out electricity and phones. 20,000 customers lost power when a power station was submerged. This knocked out power to those customers with sump pumps. A state of emergency was declared in the city at 3 am. At one point, 50 percent of the city streets were flooded. The major traffic arteries, Interstates 29 and 94, were flooded and closed for several days. The Fargodome sustained major damage when flooding along 19th Avenue North overflowed into th e parking lot and into the lower level of the building. 8 to 12 feet of water, roughly 51.8 million gallons, filled the bottom level. This was up to the first row of seats. There was an unconfirmed report of a man injured from a flying manhole cover that blew out from the force of the sewer line backup. Damage was particularly high at North Dakota State University, where nearly all 88 buildings took on water. Four feet of water in the campus library damaged the periodical section. The telephone and internet services for the campus was also disrupted. 54 percent of the residences in the city of Fargo had water damage.

After 5 to 7 inches of rain fell across the West Fargo area, flash flooding occurred in low lying neighborhoods. The Meadow Ridge area suffered quite a bit of damage, with numerous basements flooded. Many streets and cars were also flooded.

After 3 to 5 inches of rain fell on the Casselton area, flash flooding occurred. Roughly 40 percent of the homes sustained some sort of water damage, which equated to about 200 homes.

After the 6 to 8 inches of rain fell across eastern Cass county, the runoff affected the area rivers. The Sheyenne River broke outside its banks north of Fargo, flooding the rest stop along Interstate 29. The Red River in Fargo stood at 15.64 feet late in the day on the 19th. By early on the 21st, the river rose to 22.85 feet. Several low-lying roads along the river had to be closed. One-half of the cropland in Cass county was damaged.

At the main NDSU mesonet site on the northwest edge of Fargo, a 55 knot wind gust was measured.