UND prepares for potential spring flooding

March 24-- Mar. 24--UND is working to prepare for a potential spring flood, UND Police Chief Eric Plummer says.

The university already has a flood plan, which is a part of the school's emergency operation plan. The emergency operation plan is meant to reduce the risk of loss of life or property. The school also monitors flood outlooks from the National Weather Service.

"We haven't seen flooding here in several years, but we don't want people to get a false sense of security that flooding is not a possibility; it's always a possibility," Plummer said. "We want people to make sure they keep themselves and their property safe."

The university reviews its emergency plans pre-incident, responds during the incident and then reviews its recovery phase. The university may change or update the plan for future emergencies.

The university works with area partners, including the National Weather Service, Grand Forks County Emergency Management, the Grand Forks County Sheriff's Office, the Grand Forks Police Department and the North Dakota Highway Patrol, among others, to ensure the school is as prepared for potential flooding as possible.

UND will review its flood insurance plans for buildings along the English Coulee, which flows through campus. It will also look at other areas of campus that could be impacted by flooding, Plummer said.

Facilities management will consider what steps are necessary to ensure campus safety, including potential snow removal to help make sure added snowmelt doesn't add to the coulee's levels.

UND also launched a flood blog where students, staff, faculty and the community can find updates about area flooding. The blog will also focus on where students can volunteer to help the people of Grand Forks County and the region.

"If a flood happens here on campus, it's going to affect the city and the county and vice versa," Plummer said. "A lot of our students live in the community, a lot of our faculty and staff (live in the county) and we want to make sure that we're able to provide any type of support and resources we can to ensure the community stays safe."

Evacuation plans are in place should it flood on campus, Plummer said. The university is essentially a city within a city and has its own emergency management department with its own police department and safety organization, which allows the school to be prepared for disasters at least 72 hours before receiving resources from the city or the county.

"The city and the county are going to be dealing with their own type of issues and needs and concerns," he said.

Those evacuation plans depend on the type of scenario. Plummer said emergency and university officials discuss what the worst case scenario would look like and how they are prepared for those worst case scenarios.

Keeping operations of the university going during an emergency was much more difficult decades ago, but as technology continues to evolve, teaching and instruction can continue without much disruption.

"We can go from an on-campus environment into a virtual environment and keep some type of continuity with our instruction," Plummer said. "I think we're in a better position now than we were even five, 10 years ago."

Since 1997 and 2009, two of the most recognizable flood years in the region, flood protections have increased, including pump stations that take water out of the coulee.

"I think we're in a better position," Plummer said.

Greg Gust with the National Weather Service told the Herald last week Grand Forks and the region isn't at the "worst, worst case scenario" as it was in 1997.

Plummer said the last time he saw the coulee get to an elevated level was in 2013 after a period of heavy rain, but even then it didn't get to the point of flooding buildings along the stream.

"I think as long as we're following (information from the National Weather Service), following our plan and making sure that we have things in place with our preparedness efforts, we'll be in a good position to respond to any type of concern," he said.

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