‘Unbelievable’ Flooding Still Getting Worse Death Toll Rises In Waterlogged North Dakota, Minnesota

Rising by the hour, the Red River took aim at North Dakota’s largest city Thursday as the director of the nation’s emergency agency surveyed damage from the region’s worst flood in a century and called it “unbelievable.”

But some good news surfaced: Fargo learned Thursday that the imminently cresting Red River would top off at up to 2 feet less than predicted. A faulty gauge was blamed for the discrepancy.

“We’re not out of the woods yet, but we’re optimistic that we’re going to win this process,” said Dennis Walaker, Fargo’s operations manager.

The Red River is expected to crest at Fargo and Moorhead, Minn., by today at between 37 and 38 feet and remain that high for several days, the National Weather Service said.

The Red River rose to 37.2 feet Thursday, up more than a foot since Wednesday afternoon. Flood stage is only 17 feet.

Rivers swollen by melting snow have been cresting across the prairie that forms the Minnesota-North Dakota border for nearly a week. Snow up to 2 feet deep last weekend, following days of 60-degree temperatures, added more snow and ice to the mix.

Residents of the region’s towns, many caught between the rising Red River and already-cresting smaller rivers, have been feverishly bagging sand and fortifying dikes as sheets of water come across the plains.

James Lee Witt, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, inspected flood-damaged areas and called the flooding “unique.”

“I have never seen a blizzard that had been covered by water, and then it freezes. And the mess that it has caused - it is just unbelievable,” Witt said in Fargo, standing in front of a submerged parking lot at the edge of the Red River.

“What you’ve got here is the most severe winter on record, followed by the most violent winter storm in 50 years,” said Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D. “At the same time, you’re facing the greatest flood threat in 150 years.”

Vice President Al Gore plans to tour the area today.

The gulf of water grew wider Thursday between dike-fortified Fargo and Moorhead, which sit opposite each other, separated by the Red River and the state line.

Moorhead’s waterfront has become vast pools of ice and water. Some streets are submerged 6 feet deep, with only the top of a stop sign still visible by a mall.

Back yards are lakes; roads in many places taper off into the river like boat launches.

Owners of river area property said the water advanced 8 feet between Wednesday night and midmorning Thursday.

Meanwhile, an ice obstruction that dynamite failed to dislodge remained downstream of Hickson, N.D., on Thursday, restricting the flow of the Red River south of Fargo. Water from the Wild Rice and Sheyenne rivers also was spilling eastward toward the Red, creating flooding south of Fargo.

The North Dakota Highway Patrol closed 31 exits of Interstate 29 north of Fargo on Thursday because of floodwaters spilling onto the road, especially near Harwood. Traffic was rerouted to less waterlogged local and state roads.

Weather-related deaths also began to mount.

In North Dakota, a woman and her teenage daughter died after their pickup crashed into a flooded creek. A man also suffered carbon monoxide poisoning from using a portable heater when a snowstorm knocked his power out, and another man froze to death.

In western North Dakota, which also has experienced spring flooding, a 17-year-old boy was killed Thursday morning near Crosby when his car hit a washed-out township road. A passenger survived.

In Minnesota, a man suffered a heart attack while being evacuated from his home earlier this week.