Economic Impact of Flooding on Agricultural Production in Northeast Central North Dakota

Abstract

The Devils Lake Basin is a closed basin in which a number of damaging floods have been recorded in recent decades. Flooding occurs in the spring as a result of snowmelt and in the summer as a result of severe summer rainstorms. The main flood problem in the Basin is damage to agricultural land and crops. This report presents a procedure for estimating flood damages in the Basin and preliminary flood damage estimates are given. Also included are selected statistics on wetland and drainage in the Devils Lake Basin.