By Alexis Brinkman, North Dakota Horizons Staff Assistant
It’s hard fully comprehend the magnitude of the flooding that is taking place in North Dakota this spring. We hear these huge numbers being tossed around, but to someone who is as unfamiliar with the areas being affected as I am, they don’t mean a lot. It’s seeing things like the pictures coming out of Minot this week or the video of the home being swept away at Hogue Island that really bring it all into focus.
Last weekend Washburn hosted its annual Lewis and Clark Riverboat Days. As part of the event, helicopter tours of the flooding Missouri River were offered. Washburn lies about 40 miles north of Bismarck on the Missouri River and is home to Fort Mandan. A friend and I decided that we couldn’t miss out on the once in a lifetime chance to see the flooding from the air, so we put on a couple of headsets and took off.
Not surprisingly, it was astonishing to see how much of the land the river has swallowed up in the past month. You could barely see the tops of a few trees where the banks once were. Water was up to the very edges of Fort Mandan; Lewis and Clark certainly didn’t have that view during their time there. Below are a few of the photos from our flight.
Looking north from Washburn
Looking south along the Missouri River
Missouri River near Washburn, ND
Too much water is a statewide concern that will define the rest of our summer. All of us at ND Horizons are sending our thoughts and prayers to everyone who is fighting these floods.
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