Snow storms closing in on North Dakota threatened more misery for residents sheltered behind miles of levees Sunday, as officials warned that strained defences will likely fail under the pressure of record flood waters.
One floodwall protecting a Fargo school was undermined early Sunday, swamping the campus in what the mayor called a "wakeup call" to those who thought the worst was over when the river crested. "Those things will continue to happen, I guarantee it," said Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker.
"People have to continue to be vigilant." The mighty Red River, which divides North Dakota and Minnesota and runs north to Canada, was flowing at three to four times its normal strength and eating away at on the citys 48 miles (77 kilometers) of protective dikes and levees.
A blizzard bringing strong winds forecast to hit the region late Sunday could whip up waves as high as two feet which may wash over the citys defences, the national weather service predicted. Authorities fear as many as 30,000 people could be left homeless in the northern plains if the river breaks through levees protecting North Dakotas largest city, Fargo, as well as Moorhead lying on the opposite bank in Minnesota. "Weve had an awful lot of pressure to vacate the city and we refuse to do that," Walaker said. "We are not going to abandon our city. Weve invested too much in this process to walk away from it."
Officials planned to use helicopters to lower massive bags of sand into weak spots Sunday and have also called for volunteers to help fill another 500,000 sandbags as the river was expected to remain more than 20 feet above flood level for the next week. An army of foot patrols walked the lines of the citys defences to try to catch and plug minor leaks before they undermined the entire system. Thousands of people have already fled their homes as this flat prairie state remained blanketed with snow and flooded waterways which were closing in on isolated farms and smaller towns.
Water levels in some homes had reached the second floor while small dikes kept others dry in the middle of a deep, muddy lake. Regular boat patrols checked in on those who refused to leave their homes so they could monitor their pumps and repair leaks.
Curt Kesselring, who has lived through four of Fargos floods and lost his home to two of them, was digging in for a long fight against the slow-moving water.
"I think weve crossed (the worst of) it but there can be plenty of things you cant predict," Kesselring said as he picked up better-fitting waders and a fresh pair of waterproof gloves at a local shop.
"Youve got to keep an eye on the pumps, and youve got to be going out and checking the dikes all the time." The weary region had been granted a few hours relief Saturday as the water levels sank after the extreme cold halted the snow melt, and the level was holding steady Sunday at 40.3 feet (12.21 meters). Downtown Fargo was largely empty after the mayor asked non-essential businesses to close their doors and residents to stay off the roads to make room for rapid response teams.
Officials said the river at Fargo reached a high of 40.8 feet (12.4 meters) early Saturday - breaking the previous record of 40.1 feet (12.2 meters) in 1897 - and only inches below the top of Fargos highest levees. Both Grand Forks, North Dakota and Winnipeg, across the border in Canada, have flood diversion systems which should protect them from the forecasted crests.