With the river ever cutting toward the outside edges of its meanders, the channel over time shifts in position. The river channel shifts over time in a direction toward the outside of the meander loop. As erosion progresses, cutbank slopes become unstable under gravity and susceptible to mass wasting. New housing along Red River in south Fargo. Note proximity of some housing to vulnerable slopes on outsides of meanders.
Lands bordering the outside margins of meander loops are inheritantly unstable.
Yet residential development in the Fargo-Moorhead region continues on these vulnerable land surfaces. Rates of slope retreat are difficult to predict. The backward tilt of this small house on N. Terrace Street in Fargo bordered on a shallow meander loop of the Red River. As the slope progressively failed, the house began to incline toward the river. The house suffered flooding in 1997 and was razed shortly thereafter.