Fifteen years ago today on Tuesday April 22, 1997, the Red River crested at 54.35 feet in Grand Forks and East Grand Forks, marking a turning point in the worst flood the cities had ever endured. Ninety percent of Grand Forks' 52,500 residents and all of East Grand Forks' 9,000 residents were evacuated.
• "Welcome to Water World Mr. President," said a sign that greeted Bill Clinton when he visited flood refugees that day at a hangar at Grand Forks Air Force Base.
"Be good to yourself," he told them. "You don't have to be ashamed if you're heartbroken."
The president had brought with him Federal Emergency Management Agency Director James Lee Witt and Congressional leaders. Local residents had high hopes the officials would see how damaged the cities were and how badly they needed federal aid.
Choking back emotions, Grand Forks Mayor Pat Owens told the president: "You bring us hope."
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Dan Boyce, East Grand Forks' water and light superintendent didn't get to meet Clinton, but he imagined what he would tell him. "I'd say, 'President Clinton, I hope you brought your checkbook. Because mine's floating in the house.'"
• The Herald moved its offices to Manvel (N.D.) Public School not far to the north. The newspaper, its office flooded by the river and charred by fire, had moved to UND for a day but was forced to move again when English Coulee flooded.
"The purpose of the newspaper is to publish a newspaper. And we were going to do that, come hell or high water," said then-Publisher Mike Maidenberg. The Herald would go on to win a Pulitzer Prize for community service.
• Upstream of Grand Forks, residents of Drayton, N.D., and Pembina, N.D., were busy evacuating as the flood headed their way. Friends from far and wide brought in grain trucks and trailers to help haul away belongings. Evacuees would later return to find only a portion of Pembina had flooded and little damage to Drayton.
• In Grand Forks, United Hospital, known today as Altru Hospital, remained dry thanks to a temporary dike that encircled Medical Park. Employees patrolled the dike to check for weak spots. Patients were evacuated over the weekend.
• Fertilizer dealers north of Grand Forks, concerned about the difficulty of restocking and about contamination of the river, worked to move their supplies to higher ground.
• American Crystal Sugar Co. began a controlled shut down of its East Grand Forks factory with about 20 days of slicing left in the season's sugar beet campaign because of flooding. The campaign usually ends in May but officials expected it to extend a month. Company officials said the factory was protected by earthen dikes and they were moving some production to the factory in Crookston.
• The State Mill and Elevator in Grand Forks was shut down for several weeks after water got in the basement. But the rest of the mill was in good shape.
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• Meanwhile, the North Dakota National Guard patrolled Grand Forks looking for residents who wouldn't evacuate as mandated. There were reports of TVs on in homes that should already be empty. The Guards also helped police officers get back into the police station to move computer equipment up from the basement and pack up supplies for the make-shift police station at the Guards armory west of town.
Ultimately, 1,900 National Guardsmen spent 22,189 workdays in the flood fight.
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