North Dakota City Council Supports Full-Scale Flood Plan

The Minot City Council has decided not to scale back a proposed $543 million flood protection plan for the city that was devastated by historic Souris River flooding in 2011.

The Minot Daily News reports that the council on Monday night voted unanimously to move ahead with a plan of levees, flood walls and diversions to protect the city to a river flow of 27,400 cubic feet per second, which marked the record flood.

Engineers who analyzed projects that would protect to a lesser river flow concluded that cost savings would be 6 percent or less.

The Souris River flooded more than 4,000 homes, businesses and other structures in Minot in the summer of 2011.