Nuclear Missiles Spared From Souris River Flooding Says Air Force

Jul 4 2011 David Pugliese’s Defence Watch

Global Security Newswire had an update on the flooding from the Souris River and how it could affect the nuclear missile silos near Minot, N.D.

More from the newswire:

“A huge winter snow melt has, in fact, posed a months-long challenge for keeping the buried ICBM launch facilities dry, said Capt. Genieve David. All told, though, each of the 60-foot-high missiles remains functional, she said.

"Our missile launch facilities are not directly threatened by the flooding of the Souris River," she told Global Security Newswire on Thursday in a brief phone interview from Minot Air Force Base, located 8 miles north of the city limits.

The river snakes through the city of Minot west to east.

The North Dakota flood water reportedly has hit record high levels not seen for more than 130 years and has forced more than 11,000 people from their homes. Last week, an estimated 4,100 houses were deluged, including roughly 2,400 that the Federal Emergency Management Agency found to be under at least 6 feet of water, according to reports.

The river overflowed its banks beginning on June 20.

Remarkably, the 91st Missile Wing's Minuteman 3 force spread over 8,500 square miles at the base -- comprising one-third of the nation's ready long-range ICBMs -- has remained unaffected, said David, who heads base public affairs.

However, winter run-off since April has led to some "localized pooling" around a number of underground missile-launch facilities, she said. Soggy ground conditions affect "just a handful of them," said the Air Force captain, who declined to provide specifics on how many blast-hardened ICBM silos are involved.”