1997 Red River flood was one of Canada's worst — miraculously no one died Randi Mann Listen to The Weather Network's This Day in Weather History podcast on this topic, here. This Day In Weather History is a daily podcast by The Weather Network that features stories about people, communities, and events and how weather impacted them. The Red River runs through Minnesota, North Dakota, and Manitoba. It's 890 km long, with the confluence source of Bois de Sioux and Otter Tail Rivers in Wahpeton, North Dakota, and feeding into Lake Winnipeg. In 1950, the river flooded, eight dikes broke and large portion of Winnipeg was overtaken by water. Around 70,000 people were evacuated. Because of this flood, Manitoba's Premier, Duff Roblin, initiated the Red River Floodway (a manufactured flood-control waterway).