North Dakota Flood Project in Hands of Landowners

Landowners are voting on a proposed $2.7 million flood control project to divert pooling sheet water away from the northeast North Dakota city of Michigan.

Officials say the Michigan Spillway project also would relieve flooding on about 40,000 acres of farm land and rural roads in Nelson County.

The Nelson County Water Resource District is sponsoring the project but a vote of landowners is required before it can proceed. They have until 4 p.m. today to vote. Landowners would foot part of the cost.

If the project is approved, construction could start this fall on the 8-mile-long project. It would move water from the area of Lake Laretta and McHugh Slough to a tributary of the Forest River, which empties into the Red River.