Disaster Flowing To Sandbagged Cities

The swollen Red River reached its highest point this century Saturday, a slow-moving disaster edging its way north toward a dozen more communities waiting behind sandbag fortresses.

After two weeks of creeping toward an anticipated record high, the river crested at 37.58 feet - 20 feet above flood stage but short of the record of 39.1 feet set in 1897.

Most of the city of 74,000 was dry behind its floodwalls. But officials warned that the crest was no reason for people to let their guard down after weeks of building homemade dikes and fortifying their homes with sandbags.

Temperatures climbed in the 40s Saturday, posing a new threat that giant slabs of ice floating downstream could rupture sandbag dikes or jam up behind bridges.