NWS Predicts Major Spring Flooding In NW Minn.
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The National Weather Service is warning residents in parts of Minnesota to get ready for some major flooding as all the snow begins to melt this spring.
The map of spring flooding risk across the U.S. shows eastern North Dakota and northwest Minnesota are at the highest risk for severe flooding.
Late winter snows and the potential of a quick warm-up could cause major flooding, especially in the Red River Valley.
The Fargo-Moorhead area in particular is expected to get hit hard, and should prepare for one of the top five worst floods they've seen yet.
The risk for flooding has jumped 15 percent in the last two weeks in some parts of West Central and Northwest Minnesota, bringing the risk to greater than 95 percent.
Above average snowpack that sits on top of frozen soil is partly to blame.
"It seems weird because we have been in this drought, and the ground is frozen hard we've got a topsoil that's essentially a kind of frozen concrete if you will so all that snow that's been building up is going to end up running off and just a little bit is going to filter into the ground," Todd Krause with the National Weather Service said. "Some of it's going to go off into lakes and swamps, but most of it's going to end up causing flooding."
Just how bad it will get also depends on how much more rain or snow we see this spring.
If you live in an area that's expecting flooding, standard homeowners insurance doesn't cover flood loss. The average flood insurance premium in Minnesota is around $660 a year.
