In a city known for flooding in the spring, when melting snow swells the Red River, Moorhead’s engineer Bob Zimmerman has been studying what he calls “the other kind of flood” — the kind that results from intense rainstorms.
This kind of storm, he said, would soak Moorhead with several inches of rain, potentially overwhelming the capacity of a stormwater system, flooding streets and damaging homes, public buildings and sewage infrastructure.
The city has faced some big storms in the last several decades, but climate science suggests extreme rains will become more common. That’s why Moorhead recently completed research to model flooding in a changing climate, thanks to a $75,000 grant from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
Soon, many more local and tribal governments could get money from the state to prepare for increasingly extreme weather. The small MPCA grant program focused on climate resilience is undergoing a massive expansion. Minnesota lawmakers this year approved $100 million for water infrastructure and other projects like cooling centers for heat waves.
The money, a priority for Gov. Tim Walz’s administration, was not a subject of much discussion at the Capitol given the scope of Minnesota’s $17.5 billion surplus and debate over the sweeping DFL policy agenda. But in many years at the Legislature it would be considered a major initiative.
— Walker Orenstein, MinnPost