North Dakota Braces for Record Floods

(NEWSER) - The forecast in Fargo is actually getting worse. The Red River may crest at a potentially catastrophic 43 feet this weekend—2 feet higher than previous warnings, ABC News reports. "We're in uncharted territory," said the mayor, as volunteers raced to raise the levees in the North Dakota city. In a sign of the fear, workers have begun building a second set of dikes inside the main one, notes the New York Times. 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»

Minot braces; river expected to peak this evening

(AP) - With a threat of still more rain looming, Minot was bracing today for the Souris River to cascade past its already unprecedented level and widen a path of destruction that had severely damaged thousands of homes and threatened many others. City officials were expecting the river to peak as early as this evening at some 8 1/2 feet beyond major flood stage and remain there for several days, straining the city's levees to the limit and overwhelming some of them. Forecasters said there was at least an even chance of additional storms in coming days. "A rain event right now would change everything. That's the scariest," Mayor Curt Zimbelman said. More»