Campus Alert Archive
MSU

When the Mouse River Crested, a North Dakota Campus Became an Evacuee Shelter

NDfloodingemergency notificationmedium confidence

During the record 2011 Souris (Mouse) River flood, Minot, North Dakota issued a mandatory evacuation of about 11,000 residents on June 22, 2011, and the river crested June 26 at its highest level on record. Minot State University cancelled summer classes; President David Fuller said classes would not resume until after July 4 and only if the Broadway Bridge reopened. The university's Dome arena was pressed into service as an evacuee shelter even as floodwater later had to be pumped from a campus building's basement.

Alerts
2
Response
—
Killed
—
Injured
—
Institution
Minot State University
Public Masters · ND
~3,500 students
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

2 messages in sequence

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTEmail
Approximate reconstruction318 chars
MSU ALERT: A mandatory evacuation has been ordered for low-lying areas of Minot due to record Souris River flooding. Summer classes are cancelled until further notice. Students and staff in the evacuation zone must leave immediately. The MSU Dome is being opened as an emergency shelter. Monitor MSU email for updates.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Reconstructed wording: no verbatim MSU alert text was located, so this paraphrases the confirmed June 22, 2011 mandatory evacuation and class cancellation reported in contemporaneous coverage.
The MSU Dome — an indoor track and basketball arena — was set up as an evacuee shelter; 37 people stayed there the first Friday night before the river worsened.
Minot's flood was worse than the 1969 and 1881 events, so the alert language treated the evacuation as urgent and open-ended rather than time-limited.
UPDATEEmail+4d
Approximate reconstruction312 chars
MSU UPDATE: The Souris River has crested at a record level. Classes will not resume until after July 4, and only if the Broadway Bridge is open. Crews are pumping floodwater from a campus building. The campus remains affected; do not return to evacuated areas until cleared. Further updates will follow by email.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Reconstructed wording. President David Fuller, biking around campus to check conditions, said classes would not resume until after July 4 and only if the Broadway Bridge was open.
Floodwater was pumped from the basement of a Minot State building on June 27, confirming direct campus impact despite levee protection.
Treated as an update, not an all-clear, because the campus remained affected and evacuated areas were still off-limits.
Context

Background

The 2011 Souris River flood was a greater-than-hundred-year event that overwhelmed Minot, North Dakota. The city ordered a mandatory evacuation of roughly 11,000 residents on June 22, 2011, and the river crested June 26 at 1,561.72 feet, the highest on record, flooding more than 4,000 homes. Minot State University, a public master's institution, sat near the river and was protected in part by levee work, but it still cancelled summer classes — President David Fuller said they would not resume until after July 4 and only if the Broadway Bridge reopened — and floodwater had to be pumped from a campus building's basement on June 27. The campus also became part of the civic response: the MSU Dome was opened as an evacuee shelter, hosting displaced residents until conditions there too deteriorated. North Dakota and riverine flood emergencies are thinly represented in campus-alert archives, and this case shows a regional university simultaneously managing its own closure, protecting its facilities, and serving as community refuge during a historic disaster.
Analysis

Key Findings

Minot ordered a mandatory evacuation of about 11,000 residents on June 22, 2011; the Souris River crested June 26 at a record level
Minot State University cancelled summer classes, with President David Fuller saying they would not resume until after July 4 if the Broadway Bridge reopened
The MSU Dome was opened as an evacuee shelter, hosting 37 people the first Friday night before conditions worsened
Floodwater was pumped from a campus building's basement on June 27, confirming direct campus impact despite levee protection
Provenance

Sources

  1. Source
    2011 Souris River flood - Wikipedia
    en.wikipedia.org
  2. News
    North Dakota flood swamps more than 4,000 homes - HeraldNet (Associated Press)
    heraldnet.com
  3. News
    Officials recall Minot's 2011 flood fight - Minot Daily News
    minotdailynews.com
Tags
floodingsouris-rivernorth-dakotaevacuationcampus-closureemergency-shelter2011severe-weather
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion