FARGO, N.D. (AP) — Thousands of North Dakotans stacked sandbags around the clock to protect the state's largest city from the rising Red River, expected to reach a record level on Saturday. Across the state, Bismarck breathed easier as the Missouri River fell 2 feet, limiting the flooding.
Volunteers and Fargo officials were heeding the mayor's call Thursday to add another foot of dike protection against the rising water.
In the Fargodome, where a sandbag-making operation was working furiously, public works official Bruce Grubb was struck by the variety of people helping out.
"Any time you see Bison football T-shirts and Sioux hockey T-shirts working side-by-side and smiling, we've really come together," Grubb said, referring to students from North Dakota State and its rival, the University of North Dakota.
The river was at 38.19 feet early Thursday. The National Weather Service predicted the Red River would crest at 41 feet, raising concerns about massive flooding among residents in this city of about 92,000.
Mayor Dennis Walaker described 41 feet as "uncharted territory," noting the Red's record high at Fargo was 40.1 feet in 1897. Walaker said he was still confident the city would beat the flood, but that contingency plans were needed.
"We're into the contingency dikes now, and what they are is a secondary dike to protect the city in case the first line of defense fails," Walaker told the CBS "Early Show" Thursday morning. City officials opened a planning meeting with a prayer, and Walaker said: "We need all the help we can get."
Officials said they would build their dikes a foot higher than planned, to 43 feet.
Evacuations of flooded homes south of Fargo continued on Thursday morning. Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney said authorities had 11 requests for evacuations. The Coast Guard and local rescuers and emergency officials have been using airboats to evacuate flood-stranded residents.
On Wednesday, 46 people were evacuated from 15 homes in rural areas south of Fargo. A dozen more rescues were planned Thursday.
"As the river's moving north, our issues are moving north," Laney said.
On Wednesday, Police Chief Keith Ternes urged people with disabilities to consider leaving the city, saying: "If they expect us to get to them and get them out, they should give serious consideration." Hospital officials were also identifying patients that might need to be moved early.
Officials in Fargo and neighboring Moorhead, Minn., put out another call for volunteers. Fargo requested more than 2,000 volunteers to complete sandbag dikes.
In Bismarck, officials canceled a request for sandbaggers to protect a mobile home court in the south part of the city. But residents were warned not to let their guards down despite the lowering river.
"I am praying we're out of the woods because of the 2-foot drop, but I think we have to be prudent," said Lt. Dan Murphy, a North Dakota National Guard spokesman. "We just don't know."
The guard said tributaries feeding into the river had gone down.
Also, demolition crews blasted chunks of ice Wednesday to break up an ice jam that was causing water to back up behind it and flooded Bismarck.
Water backing up behind the dam of car-size ice blocks had forced the evacuation of about 1,700 people from low-lying areas in North Dakota's capital city of about 59,000. Fox Island, which has several dozen upscale homes, was flooded.
Crews from Advanced Explosives Demolition, with help from National Guard, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Coast Guard, drilled 80 holes in the ice to detonate clay-like explosives. Greg Wilz, the state's homeland security director, said salt would be used to help speed the breakup and officials were considering backhoes to break up ice sheets near the river's west bank.
Residents of low-lying subdivisions in Bismarck and neighboring Mandan had been told to evacuate.
President Barack Obama declared the entire state of North Dakota a disaster area late Tuesday in response to widespread flooding. The Minot Air Force Base was deploying two rescue helicopters to Bismarck, in case people need to be saved from floodwaters.
Mike Hall, who is in charge of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's North Dakota response to the flood, said the agency is shipping almost 20,000 meals, 4,500 blankets and hundreds of toiletry kits to the Grand Forks Air Force Base. From there, the supplies will be distributed as needed, Hall said.
More sandbagging was planned in part of Grand Forks, the city hardest hit by the 1997 Red River flood. An elaborate dike system was built after that disaster. The Red rose to 42.5 feet in Grand Forks by midday Wednesday with a crest near 52 feet projected for Monday. The record there was 54.4 feet, set in 1997.
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Associated Press writers James MacPherson, Blake Nicholson and Dale Wetzel in Bismarck and Dave Kolpack in Fargo contributed to this report.
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