The River Wins

On the morning of Friday, April 18, the river found a path into Lincoln Park. Water rushed down Lincoln Drive and swamped the levee from behind, and by late afternoon only the rooftops peeked out above the murky, swirling water. Floodwaters poured through the sewer systems to overrun both downtowns. Central Park, Riverside Park, Sherlock Park, and Griggs Park disappeared under water. That night, the Kennedy Bridge closed, leaving 75 miles of the Red River uncrossable. By Saturday, half of Grand Forks and all of East Grand Forks were under water. The University of North Dakota campus partially flooded and cancelled classes for the rest of the semester, as did schools in both cities. City, county, state, and federal personnel set up an Emergency Operations Center on the dry ground that remained at the University of North Dakota and worked around the clock to help the community. The river had won. The cities were dark and silent.

Grand Forks, North Dakota · United States