American Midwest braced for floods

Bone-chilling cold in the US slowed the rise of the already record-high Red River early today as weary volunteers waited and watched to see if all their hard work had been enough to save the Midwestern US city of Fargo, North Dakota, from major flooding.

“Now it’s time to stand and defend,” said Tim Mahoney, a city commissioner in Fargo.

Millions of sandbags were in place, with 1,700 National Guard troops on patrol monitoring dikes with the help of volunteers looking for cracks in the defences. The intense effort that brought out students and out-of-towners to help fill sandbags and build up dikes wound down Friday evening.

No major levee breaches or other issues were reported during the night, and officials of the city of 92,000 people said today they did not immediately need any more volunteers.

Temperatures were in the single digits Fahrenheit (-17 to -13 Celsius) during the night, preventing snow from melting and feeding the rising river. The Red rose less than a foot on Friday, compared to 2.5 feet on Thursday, and forecasters said late Friday that the river would crest on Sunday afternoon instead of Saturday.

The National Weather Service predicted the crest at near 42 feet, but said it was still possible the river could rise to 43 feet – the maximum level to which the levees are built to protect the city and nearly 3 feet higher than the record of 40.1 feet set in 1897.

Early today, the river stood at 40.81 feet – more than 22 feet (6.7 meters) above flood stage – but snow melting as the weather warms during the day was still expected to make it rise more.

Even after the river crests, the water may not begin receding before Wednesday, keeping up the pressure threatening levees put together mostly by volunteers.

Mayor Dennis Walaker told CNN that the threat would linger long past Sunday’s predicted crest.

“We have about 8 days of significant concern, and then maybe we can start breathing a little easier.”

Authorities in Fargo and across the river in Moorhead, Minnesota – a city of about 30,000 people – expanded evacuations on Friday across several blocks. About a third of the households in Moorhead had been urged to leave.

President Barack Obama, in his weekly radio and internet address today, said he was keeping close watch on the Midwest floods and putting the government’s full weight behind efforts to prevent disaster.

“We will do what must be done to help,” the president said. He repeatedly praised volunteers stockpiling sandbags and building levees, saying “their service isn’t just inspirational – it’s integral to our response.”