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Eleven seems to be a magic number for Great Falls and high water.

Three of the worst floods in the Electric City in the last 60 years occurred in 1953, 1964 and 1975. Each year was 11 years apart in succession.

Superstitious people figured the year 1986 would be a flood year, but it wasn't. During the 1980s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers oversaw construction of the new dike in Great Falls.

Eleven years after 1986, the Sun River saw record high water for the district in 1997, said West Great Falls Flood Commissioner Sandy Mares. That year, high water reached 3,318.5 feet above sea level where the Watson Coulee drainage runs into the Sun River at 27th Street S.W.

Mares said high water also occurred in 2008, although not at record-setting levels.

This year, in 2011, a new Sun River level record for the district was set at 3,321.2 feet, and the flood year is far from finished.

The record reading for the Sun River in Great Falls was not broken 11 years after 2008. However, 2011 does contain the number 11.