Floodwaters Continue Rising At Fargo Red River Expected To Crest At Record Over The Weekend

Parents rushed to take their children out of class Wednesday after floodwaters crept toward homes and an elementary school.

The water was washing over the land from the Wild Rice River, which feeds into the Red River south of Fargo. Water went across Interstate 29, but the highway remained open.

“We’re not even by the river,” said Gayle Anderson, who picked up her second-grader at Fargo’s Centennial Elementary School and hurried to move furniture out of the lower level of her home.

The school itself was not immediately threatened and classes continued through the day. But buses were parked outside during the afternoon in case an evacuation was necessary, and workers began erecting an emergency dike, using dirt from the school’s grounds.

The Red River, which divides North Dakota and Minnesota, was headed for a record crest over the weekend, the National Weather Service said.

In Bismarck, Gov. Ed Schafer canceled the inaugural ball, scheduled for April 26. The celebration was originally scheduled Jan. 11, but was postponed because of a blizzard.

“This is not the right time for a gala ball,” Schafer said. “We’ve taken two shots at it here. It isn’t going to work out.”

Instead, the governor appealed for donations to the Red Cross and the Salvation Army.

Elsewhere, Fargo city workers completed a second dike to protect City Hall and the civic auditorium from the rising Red. The 4-foot-high dike stretched four blocks.

The river was at 38.9 feet Wednesday night - flood stage is 17 feet - and forecasters said it could reach 39 feet by today. The National Weather Service said the river was expected to crest at 39.5 feet over the weekend, topping the record 39.1 feet set in 1897.

Melting snow from this winter’s record snowfall has overwhelmed the Red and its tributaries and spread out along the entire length of the flat Red River Valley. But there was some encouraging news Wednesday.

“The rate of increase is going down,” Fargo Mayor Bruce Furness said.

North Dakota State University called off classes to let students help fill sandbags. Many went to the city’s garbage collection building, where the atmosphere was like a party.

“Whenever the mayor calls and says they need help on the sandbags, we release our students,” NDSU President Thomas Plough said. “So we’ve got the horsepower, and the students are very willing to do it.”