group KISS donated the money from sales of a special T-shirt to the Fargo and Grand Forks areas to assist in flood relief. All told, there was $3.5 billion USD in damages to Grand Forks and East Grand Forks, making it the eighth most expensive natural disaster in the U.S. since 1903. Across North Dakota and Minnesota, there were of land covered in water. Thousands of people were relocated after the disaster. In May 1997, the Red Cross conducted a damage assessment of 8,000 North Dakota homes. The report indicated that 519 homes, 53 mobile homes, and 73 apartments had been destroyed by flood waters while 701 homes, 69 mobile homes, and 175 apartments sustained major damage. Inspectors reported that 5,959 homes, 166 mobile homes, and 497 apartments received minor damage. Over 5,200 businesses had been destroyed, damaged, or somehow affected by the winter and spring blizzards and the flood. In Grand Forks alone, 75% of the homes, 315 businesses, and 16 of 22 local schools had been flooded. East Grand Forks had over 500 condemned homes, with only eight homes not damaged by the flood. Grand Forks, losing only 3% of its population from 1997 to 2000, did not fare as badly as its sister city, which lost nearly 17% of its residents. Not a single person was killed in the flood itself. Federal and state response and assistance On April 22, President Bill Clinton flew over Grand Forks surveying the flooded cities. He then visited the thousands of refugees at the nearby Grand Forks Air Force Base and commented on the community's spirit, stating "Water cannot wash that away. Fire cannot burn that away. And blizzards cannot freeze that away." President Clinton also declared that the Federal Emergency Management Agency would compensate 100 percent of the cost of emergency work, instead of the normal 75 percent. He also requested that Congress approve $488 million for various counties within North Dakota, Minnesota, and South Dakota for short and long-term reconstruction efforts. In June, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and President Clinton appointed the International Red River Basin Task Force containing members of both countries. The task force's purpose was to find ways to improve flood forecasting. North Dakota and Minnesota leaders initially asked the federal government for $100 million in disaster relief, but increased their projections to $500 million for Grand Forks and East Grand Forks. Pat Owens went