Fargo's Flood Forecast Worsens

Fargo residents battle freezing weather to shore up wall of sandbags

(NEWSER) - North Dakota officials issued a plea for thousands more sandbaggers this morning as residents scrambled to prepare for record flooding expected this weekend, reports ABC News. Volunteers in Fargo are battling a blizzard to raise a wall of sandbags along the Red River, predicted to crest at a new high of 42 feet by early Saturday. Evacuation plans are being finalized, even as more blasts are planned to break up continuing ice jams in the Missouri River near Bismarck. More»

(AP) - Earthmoving equipment and National Guard helicopters hauled sand today to reinforce leaky dikes that prompted evacuations in Valley City, a town threatened by the Sheyenne River, the latest North Dakota stream to rise above its banks. The Sheyenne was headed for a crest at around 22 feet in the next couple of days in Valley City, 2 feet higher than the record set in 1882. More»

Red River could see record overflow

(NEWSER) - Minnesota and North Dakota work crews joined volunteers today to build levees and sandbag walls as a storm threatened to cause flooding, Inforum reports. Locals living along Red River are bracing for as much as 1 inch of rain tonight from a storm expected to last 2 days, causing river flood crests of 37 to 40 feet for a week afterwards. Water spilled over the Red River in Fargo yesterday, reaching 21 feet, or 3 feet above flooding, the Seattle Times reports. More»

But Souris River flooded 4,000 homes

(AP) - The Souris River began a slow retreat from Minot today with no further flood damage in the city, but officials warned danger would remain for several days until the highest water passed. More than 4,000 homes and hundreds of businesses flooded when the Souris flowed over levees Friday, but crews have dealt only with isolated problems since then, including a leaky dike that was reinforced last night. Click to read about how the town is dealing with the disaster . More»

Evacuees pitch in to help neighbors

(NEWSER) - As the Souris River was set to peak today, North Dakotans weren't exactly wallowing in the misery of the worst flooding in memory—rather, they were rolling up their sleeves and doing whatever they could to help their neighbors. Evacuees helped others evacuate, others moved friends' belongings to safety, and so many opened their homes to displaced neighbors that only a few hundred of the 11,000 displaced showed up at shelters. "It's disheartening," one displaced pastor who's been pitching in tells the AP. "But I'm grateful that I have a place to go and I feel for people who are worse off than I am." More»