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Page 4 ~ Y4/ATfR TALK Spring/Summer 1996 arren es ~ ~~Tl 1®~t~S By Nate Daiag~er As reported in the Warren Sheaf, the Snake River went over its banks near the Warren. fair- grounds on the east side of town about 6 a.m. on Thursday April 18, 1996. There was little or no advance warning. In just over an hour virtually all of the streets east of the Burlington Northern Railway tracks and north of Highway 1 were flooded. By 5 a.m. Friday April 19, when the Snake reached its peak level of 851.7 feetASL, an estimated 70 percent of the residences in Warren had been impacted by the flood waters. ings. Only a half dozen or so homes had floodwater on the main floor. Indications that vast amounts of water from the melting of the winter's heavy snowfall were moving west toward Warren were given the previous weekend (April 13-14) when water from a flooded field began flowing southwest of the Warren Munici- pal Airport. Even more severe countryside flooding occurred when waters overflowed Highway 1 near the Radium turn-off about seven miles east of Warren. However, many held out the hopes that the huge snowmelt would make its way westward to the Red River through ditches and river channels without severe flooding in Warren and other communities. Many Warren residents were surprised Thursday rooming to find floodwater in the streets and gradu- ally rising. It is estimated that there are 575 flood prone buildings within the City of Warren, of which. ap- proximately 93 structures (16%) are insured through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). The statewide average of NFIP insured flood prone structures is 33%. Many homes were kept dry or protected from worse flooding by the approximately 120,000 sandbags that were filled and placed by individual homeowners and at least 600 volunteers who came from near and far to help battle the rising waters. Of those homes and buildings flooded, damage inmost cases was confined to flooded basements and floors of garages, sheds, and other low foundation build- The Warren Sheaf reported that other resi- dents knew flooding was a strong probability. Mary Beth and Richard Erdman and their neighbors on North Fifth Street just north of the Snake River were awakened about 2:30 Thursday rooming by loud creaking and cracking noises from the river as the ice moved down the channel. Using spotlights and flashlights, they walked along the water's edge to observe the river. Atone point they spotted a huge mass of ice floating down the stream, tearing off limbs of trees as it went along. About 3:30 a.m., according to Mary Beth, the iceberg crashed. into the Fifth Street bridge, making a tremendous noise. ...continued on next page Photo courtesy of theWarren Sheaf