GRAND FORKS, N.D. — There’s chronic flooding, and then there’s Grand Forks, a nice city on the North Dakota-Minnesota border that turns into a gigantic pool of water when the rain comes in torrents.

We rolled into this city along Interstate 29 just south of the Canadian border to see  “Road Closed Ahead” staring at us. We exited the freeway, made a huge loop east of the freeway, then re-entered I-29 a good bit south of where we left it.

The rain had just fallen heavily here prior to our arrival.

We looked back and saw a huge flooded area under a bridge crossing the freeway that obviously was too dangerous for motor vehicle traffic. For all I know at this moment, someone might have gotten caught in there and paid a huge price for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I thought immediately of the 1997 flood that crippled Grand Forks. The Red River spilled over its banks and inundated the city. I remember reading at the time that farmers here had relied on levees to alter the river’s course; they used the water to irrigate their crops.

However, the river goes where the Almighty intends for it to go. Such was the case then when the Red River decided that little ol’ humankind wasn’t going to dictate its water flow.

I am unaware of the measures they took to prevent that kind of catastrophe from repeating itself.

However, we did see that lots of standing water — much of knee- or perhaps even waist-deep in some places as we made our way toward the RV camp where we spent the night.

As we prepare to leave this lovely community, I will express hope that the nice folks here have learned their lessons from that Red River tragedy.

Just remember: The river ain’t gonna go where human beings tell it to go; it goes where it is meant to go all along.