2002 Roseau River Flood
Parts of NW Minnesota received from 5 to 18 inches of rain in a 48 hour period. Our cabin sits on the Roseau River and most of this water has to drain out or the Roseau River watershed. High water is not unusual in the spring or when there are heavy rains, however this time it was different. The lower parts of the basin near our cabin actually handled the water well and the river was starting to recede. However the flooding up river was setting records. It was only a matter of time before the water started to rise again. No one was quite sure how high but it would definitely be as high as the 1997 flood which hit 11.1 inches on the USGS gauge below Ditch 51 in Caribou Township and was expected to exceed the record high of 11.8 in 1950. I went up there on June 18 (Tuesday) get everything in the cabin put up in case it got as high as the predicted. The cabin got wet by a couple of inches in 1997 but I had raised it a few inches since then and figured it should able to get to 11.4 before water got in. On Friday it hit 11.2 and it was getting wet. I left on Saturday and it was raining at the time. As I put this page together it is at 11.8 and slowing down. Below are some pictures of the flood. Click on the picture for an enlarged version.
This is on Friday afternoon at about 11.2 feet. The water was very clean, probably the cleanest you will see in any flood.
This is County Road 7 (Roseau-Kittson County Line) at about 10.8 feet
And the next day at 11.1
This is about 2 miles south of the cabin looking north on Co Rd 7
Sandbagging at Dr. Larter's cabin north of Caribou
Sandbagging the Caribou Church
