FLOOD04656

• County: Statewide
• Community: United States
• Basin: Statewide
• Title: Summary of Floods in the United States During 1965
• Date: 1/1/1970
• Prepared For: US Department of the Interior
• Prepared By: Federal, State, and Local Agencies
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Flood Documentation Report

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FLOODS OF 1'965 IN THE

uNITED STATES
_~AE~ 950
"UNITED STATES

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EXPLANATION
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Flood-determination point
Nwnber COM"e$p(mds to
tkatin table 9

i:;rt

~mNESOTA

20 MilES
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10
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FrGtlltE 12.-Location

. tion poInts; .floods of April-May in
of flood-deterIJliIl8.
northwestern MInnesota.

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SUMMARy OF FLOODS

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above nol'llllll,and then it was confined primarily to the eastern part
of the area, The water equivalent of the snowpack on March 30 ranged
from 0,5 inch near the western boundary of Minnesota to more than
3 inches in the eastern part of the basin. ,
Temperatures remained below freezing during the last' 2 weeks in
March, and minimum subzero temperatures occurred over most of the
area on March 16-26. Most of the snowpack melted from 'March 31
to April 5 as daytime temperatures approached 400F and nightime
minimum temperatures were near freezing. A storm on April '5-6
brought 1-2 inches of rain mixed with snow over most of the area.
Runoff increased rapidly, particularly in the southern part, and some
of the 8I11aller tributaries crested by April 6. On April10~11, a second
storm deposited 1-2 inches of rain over the central part. By this time
the rains and warm temperatures had melted all the snow cover except
for that in the extreme northwestern corner of Minnesota where 1-4
inches still remained on the ground. The additional rn,:,off from the
rains of April 10-11 caused peaks to occur on most tnbutaries by
April 14.' '
Peak stages and discharges 'for 41 sites are listed in table 9. Recur-
rence intervals have been computed for peaks at most gaging stations
using data from Patterson (1968). Recurrence intervals can not be
assigned to peaks at crest-stage gage sites because flood' frequency rela-
tions have not been determined for such 8I11all drain!lg'l'basins,'

TABLE 9.-Flood stages and di8charges in Red River of the North basin, April-May,
in northwestern Minnesota

Maximum floods

No.

Stream and place of
determination

Drainage
~..
(sqmi)

Known before
April 1965

D~harge
Recur-
Cfs rence
interval
(years)

Period

Gage
April- height
May 1965 (!eet)
Y..,

1 OttertailRivernea.r
Detroit La.kea, Minn.
2 Pelica.n River near Fergus
FBlls, Minn.

270 1937-65____ 1943 ~_____.m___m_.n 371nn_nm
1950 n___nn. 16.96 n..._.____n.....n
482 -i9Q9:.i2~~~,~-~i943.. _~~~~__~_._._1_~_~. ~ _m..:.n
1942-65..__ 1950 ________h 18.60 ..~.n_n_.n".__"
_.n_n~_.....n..__ Apr. 6 16.73 __.__nnU.....____
4,010 -i897:i965~-.ni897n _~~~.___~_m-i7~(i- (2}5S1 n____~m
1942-65.m 1952 ..._.nm 14.99 7,130n____m_
....nnn_n.nun Apr. 11 14.34 5,690 8
6,800 1897-1965_. 1897 _.___mn 340.1 (3) nn___m
1901-65n_. 1952 .____nh. '28.79 16,300 ._n......
___nmn.mmm Apr. 15 30.5 11.400 18
49.9 1960-65nn 1962 m____n. .13.35 370 nmn.__
_m.....___nmm Apr. 10 116.12 245 (2)
322 1921-65n__ 1921 nmUm 11.3 (2) d.___n__
1945-6.5..n 1955 m____n~ 9.31 1,590 m.nm_
62. 5 ~i~i~~~~~==i~~= _~~:n~~_~~~;:~~~~~ m-i.-~..~~~~~~~~~~
$25.3 1962 n______n 18.29 n___._.nn.__n...
n.__n.un__n.~-n Apr. 6 17.67 n..nnn_UU"___
___hmmnn__m Apr. 9 .mnn~~ 175 (2)

3 Red River of the North at
Wahpeton, N. Dak:.
4, Red River of the North at
Fargo, N. Dak.
5 Ba1faloRivernea.r
Callaway, Minn.
6 Bu1falo River near
Hawley, Minn.

7 Whisky Creek at
Ba.mesville, Minn.

See footnotes at end of table.