Flood Risk in Renville County, ND: Souris River

Renville County occupies a specific, consequential spot on the Souris (Mouse) River: it's the first place in North Dakota where water released from Canadian dams shows up, monitored at the Sherwood gauge. That geography drove a record-setting flood in 2011, and it puts Renville County -- not just downstream Minot -- squarely inside an active, multi-county flood-mitigation effort worth checking before buying river-adjacent land.

This page covers what's specific to Renville County. For the general explanation, see the national guide.

The first gauge in North Dakota: why Renville County floods when Canada releases water

The Souris River (called the Mouse River through much of North Dakota) originates in Saskatchewan, flows south into North Dakota, loops through Minot, and returns north into Manitoba. The Sherwood gauge, in northern Renville County, is the first monitoring point in North Dakota where releases from upstream Canadian dams are observed -- which makes Renville County the earliest and most direct indicator of flood risk moving downstream toward Minot and Ward County, and a place that floods in its own right, not merely as a pass-through.

That geography produced a record event in June 2011: the Souris River at the Sherwood gauge peaked at roughly 29,700 cubic feet per second, more than double the previous record of 14,800 cfs set in 1976. Renville County ordered a mandatory evacuation of Mouse River Park along the river, flash flooding was expected in rural areas of northwest Renville County and near the hamlet of Greene, and the river ultimately rose well above flood stage. This is a distinct, Renville-specific chapter of the 2011 Souris River flood story -- not simply an upstream footnote to the much larger, better-known flooding that devastated Minot the same year.

Ongoing mitigation and what to check before buying near the river

Renville County is a formal member of the Souris River Joint Board, which also includes Ward, Bottineau, and McHenry counties along with the City of Minot, working on a long-term flood-risk-reduction program for the river system. As of the most recent public update, the project's first construction milestone is nearly complete and is expected to remove roughly 60% of currently at-risk properties from the FEMA floodplain once certified -- a real, in-progress change to flood-zone status along the river, not a completed or static picture.

For any Renville County parcel near the Souris/Mouse River, don't rely on an older flood map or a general sense that 'the flood was in Minot.' Check current, effective flood-zone status through the FEMA Flood Map Service Center and North Dakota's Risk Assessment Map Service (NDRAM), which shows both FEMA's effective floodplain and newer, more detailed Base Level Engineering (BLE) analysis. If a parcel sits inside a Special Flood Hazard Area, a floodplain development permit from the local Floodplain Administrator is required before any new construction or substantial improvement -- confirm that requirement, and the parcel's likely post-mitigation flood status, directly with the county before closing.

Flood Risk in Renville County, North Dakota: The Souris River at the Canadian Border

The first gauge in North Dakota: why Renville County floods when Canada releases water

Ongoing mitigation and what to check before buying near the river

Ready to talk to someone who knows land?