What areas flood, and how bad? (Devils Lake, Hope: houses, buy, law)

[SouthernStar]

My father-in-law just told me that his dad grew up around Devils Lake and his uncle had a big farm there. His uncle said that he would have fish in his fields after the flood waters receded. Obviously this is a bit secondhand, so I was just wondering

a)Is it really that bad?
b) What areas seem to flood either severely or on a regular basis?
c) What signs on homes or land should we look at as an indication of whether or not it has ever flooded?

Thanks!

[DaninEGF]

Originally Posted by SouthernStar

My father-in-law just told me that his dad grew up around Devils Lake and his uncle had a big farm there. His uncle said that he would have fish in his fields after the flood waters receded. Obviously this is a bit secondhand, so I was just wondering

a)Is it really that bad?
b) What areas seem to flood either severely or on a regular basis?
c) What signs on homes or land should we look at as an indication of whether or not it has ever flooded?

Thanks!

Not sure what your father in law or uncle was talking about...but Devils Lake itself is an inland lake with no natural outlet. Thus it is suspect to very low stages in years of drought and high levels during wet years. During the late 1980s after many dry years the lake was very low...then starting in about 1993 through 2002 we had many yet years and the lake levels kept rising and rising and eventually taking over more land and roads. Now it has reached about its equilibrium point when it probably wont rise much higher as now water from the lake flows naturally into another lake nearby thus taking off some of the pressure. The lake is not one to rise rapidly and then drop as such would occur during flash floods or snowmelt flooding in the spring. At most it rises a few inches or a foot each year or may drop that much due to evaporation. The state and federal government and the city of Devils Lake have spent many many dollars to help build up roads to prevent any more flooded roads and now things are pretty good over there. Flash flooding or snow melt flooding in the spring from rivers is very rare in the area.

The only real area that is prone to annual flooding is the Red River along the MN and ND borders. Each spring in the snowmelt season we are prone to flooding to some degree...a few years here and there over the past century it has gotten very bad....but each year is always something to watch. Other than that...summer time rainfall flooding is pretty limited in eastern ND to ponding of water in farmers fields due to lack of drainage and maybe some flooding along a few rivers that feed into the Red River east of the Devils Lake region.

Hope this answers your questions....overall Devils Lake is not prone to the flooding you typically get in TN... sure in an extreme rain there are temporary flooding of roads briefly due to poor drainage and such but nothing too bad.

Dan

[SouthernStar]

Thanks! My father in law is in his fifties, and it was his uncle he was talking about. So I'm guessing the flooding he was talking about was at least over fifty years ago. I just didn't want to be the person who buys a home and the whole town is laughing behind my back, knowing it's going to be underwater in six months! Just want to be aware, not worried.

[roundball]

Both my Mother and Father grew up on Farms. Mom in Starkweather and my Dad in Webster. (15-25min N. of Devils Lake) I always remember flooding in the spring by the highway next to Webster. On the farm by Starkweather they have some dry creeks (in the middle of fields) that flood in the spring and Northern Pikes are everywhere. When the water goes down some fish are trapped in the middle of a field. I wouldn't worry about flooding. No one else really does. The only thing you may want to look out for is if you buy a house with a basement in an area with a high watter table. Some houses don't have very good drainage. Make sure they have adequate drain tile/sump pumps if you buy a house in an area with those problems. Mostly along the Red River.