20 for 20: Roseau Flooding (2002)

To celebrate our 20^th anniversary of Lakeland News, we’re taking a look back at some of the memorable local stories we’ve covered over the years. It’s called 20 For 20 – twenty stories in all, one for each of the twenty years we have been on the air with Lakeland News.

For our fifth installment, we look back at the year 2002 – the year of a terrible flood in Roseau. As much as 12 inches of run fell on the area over the days of June 9th and 10th. The Roseau River would crest at 23.4 feet, 7 feet over flood stage. On June 11th, the sandbag dike broke and most of the city was flooded. Still, residents kept fighting the flood and were able to save the school, hospital, and the Polaris Industries factory.

Roseau would end up losing its police department, library, museum, and city hall, as well as many businesses and homes in the 2002 flood. More than 70 structures were removed after the flood due to damage sustained. The city now has new public infrastructure and a flood diversion plan in place to prevent future floods from happening.

Intern reporter Cheryl Tjepkes and reporter Melissa Muntz brought us stories on back-to-back nights. If you’d like to see more stories featured in our 20 For 20 retrospective, please click any one of the following links:

• Swingin’ (1998)
• John Yourd (1999)
• Highway 371 Bypass Opening (2000)
• Bob Peters (2001)