EMERGENCY FLOOD CONTROL OPERATION DURING THE 1997 RED RIVER FLOOD

摘要

In the spring of 1997 the largest flood in over 100 years inundated much of the Red River Valley. In the Canadian portion of the basin 1800 sq. km. (700 sq. mi.) of valley lands were inundated, creating a lake 80 km (50 miles) long and up to 40 km (25 miles) wide. Approximately 20 million sandbags were used to protect homes and property in the valley, and 28,000 residents were evacuated from their homes. The flood protection works that had been constructed over the past 40 years were pushed beyond their design capacity, but were successful in preventing serious damage in any of the protected communities. This paper will describe the flood protection works, and operation challenges faced during the 1997 flood.