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Fargo urgently calls for help

As the Red River rises faster and higher than expected, a "code red alert" was issued Sunday for more volunteers.

By JACKIE CROSBY, Star Tribune

Last update: March 23, 2009 - 7:02 AM

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Officials in flood-threatened Fargo, N.D., put out a "code red alert" to every phone line in the city Sunday evening, hoping volunteers will heed the call to help as worries mounted that the Red River will rise faster and higher than had been expected.

Volunteers raced to stack 1.5 million sandbags as snowmelt gorging the Red River Valley and rain expected over the next two days threatened to swell the river at Fargo beyond the record height set during 1997's catastrophic flood.

"We do have an opportunity to fail," said Mayor Dennis Walaker, adding that it was too early to set out evacuation plans. "Right now, we're advising cautious optimism that we can do this -- with everyone's help."

On Sunday evening, the north-flowing Red was at 23.38 feet in Fargo, more than 5 feet above flood stage. It spilled over its banks Sunday, submerging part of a road, as well as bike paths and park property.

The National Weather Service forecasts that the Red could approach the 1997 record of 39.6 feet in Fargo on Thursday. And it could crest between 39.5 and 41 feet on Friday -- more than a foot higher and a day earlier than first projected.

The new numbers put nearly twice the number of Fargo neighborhoods at risk, said city administrator Pat Zavoral, and led to a ramping-up of efforts in the twin towns of Breckenridge, Minn., and Wahpeton, N.D., which will get hit first.

By Sunday evening, about 1,600 volunteers working at a downtown Fargo street department building dubbed "Sandbag Central" had loaded an estimated 400,000 bags of sand. By 8 a.m. today, officials hoped to see half a million loaded.

But work was suspended early Sunday when there weren't enough volunteers to run two massive spider machines. The machines fill sandbags quickly, but require 50 to 60 people to operate.

With a third machine on its way, the city estimated that it will take 500 people working four-hour shifts to keep the operation running around the clock.

"Overnight hours are our problem," city spokeswoman Karena Lunday said. "But I can hear down the hall that the volunteer hot line is busy. That's a good sign."

'A watch-and-see game'

The Minnesota National Guard announced Sunday that more than 200 soldiers will head to the Red River Valley to help out. About 250 North Dakota National Guard members pitched in for 12-hour shifts Saturday and Sunday.

Eighty football players from North Dakota State University are expected to take a four-hour shift today. Public high school students from Fargo were to be released from school today if they wanted to help. Even inmates got into the act, with Cass County jail inmates filling sandbags overnight.

The first of several clay dikes was completed downtown, and others will go up in a handful of key areas to the north and south of town.

"It's a watch-and-see game now," Lunday said. "We've been through this before. We're trying to be as proactive as possible now."

'I'm going to pull you over'

Meanwhile, gawkers were warned to stay away from affected neighborhoods or be prepared to be put to work. Sheriff Bill Bergquist in Minnesota's Clay County said he was frustrated by the number of slow-moving vehicles in areas where flood preparation was underway.

"You know what -- next time I'm going to pull you over and you're going to be out there sandbagging," he said.

The Weather Service also warned of flooding in western and central North Dakota, northwestern Minnesota and eastern South Dakota.

In Grand Forks, forecasters predicted the Red would rise above its 28-foot flood stage to about 50.4 feet by next Sunday and could reach 52.5 feet over the next week. Grand Forks officials have said they are confident the dike system built after the 1997 flood disaster will protect the city.

The Army Corps of Engineers said its contractors have been building emergency levees in Fargo, Grafton, Harwood, Valley City and Wahpeton in North Dakota and in Breckenridge, Moorhead and Georgetown in Minnesota.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Jackie Crosby • 612-673-7335

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