For the most part, flooding threats to Norfolk from the North Fork of the Elkhorn River ended in 1968.
That's when the $4 million flood control channel was completed, which, at the time, was one of the most costly river renovation projects in Northeast Nebraska outside of the Missouri River.
The flood control channel extends above and below a dam that was built as part of the project. The dam is located about one-fourth of a mile northwest of the edge of Northeast Community College.
The dam is made of concrete and has a railroad bridge over it that is used by trains that go through Norfolk daily.
Above the dam, the flood control channel has water back up into the North Fork for nearly a half-mile.
The intake for the North Fork River is about one-fourth mile above the dam. The intake keeps a consistent amount of water flowing through town all year.
Any excess water flows through the flood control channel, which is built to handle up to a flood that occurs once every 500 years.
The flood control channel goes from northwest of the college to under Benjamin Avenue and stays between First Street and Victory Road as it goes nearly two miles along the eastern edge of Norfolk. It connects with the North Fork again just north of Omaha Avenue.
The North Fork flows past the Norfolk Country Club west of First Street, then goes south of Benjamin Avenue past the Norfolk Family YMCA, Henningsen Foods, under First Street and then through more commercial and residential development before joining the flood control channel, just north of Omaha Avenue.
Settlers who moved to the Elkhorn Valley back in the 1860s had been warned by the original settlers - a Winnebago Indian chief to be exact - that the area was prone to floods.
In fact, he told the first colony of Wisconsin pioneers who arrived in what was to become Norfolk that he had seen the entire valley a sheet of water.
Those pioneers ignored the warning and built their town here anyway. But it didn't take long for them to realize the chief was right.
Photos exist from 1877 showing a man sitting on a horse on main street in Norfolk and the flood waters come right below the horse's belly.
