ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 13, 1997 TAG: 9704140070
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: FARGO, N.D.
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Warmer weather posed a new threat that giant slabs of ice floating downstream could rupture sandbag dikes or jam up behind bridges.
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.
``When the crest hits, everybody says, `Hey, let's get the champagne,' but that's not the case until you get all 7 or 8 feet of water off those dikes,'' Dennis Walaker, Fargo's operations manager, said Saturday.
It will be another week before Fargo is out of danger, Walaker said, predicting the north-flowing river would begin falling about 4 to 6 inches today. ``That's not very quickly when it's got to drop 20 feet,'' he said.
Temperatures climbed in the 40s Saturday, bringing out sightseers who lined the railing at a parking garage across the river in Moorhead, Minn. They snapped photos of street signs poking above the murky water.
``My folks have been calling every day,'' said Abraham Irizarry, a Moorhead resident whose parents live in New York. ``They want to see if it's all right, and if it's as bad as they say on TV.''
The warmer temperatures also posed a new threat that giant slabs of ice floating downstream could rupture sandbag dikes or jam up behind bridges. Many roads already were closed in the area.
There was, however, at least one bright sign. The 1,650 residents of Casselton, about 20 miles west of here, had their power back after nearly a week in the dark.
``We've got full water back, too, so we're really happy where we're at,'' said Tom Sinner, a city council member.
The bloated river had been rising for nearly two weeks across the vast prairie that spans the Minnesota-Dakota border. At least eight deaths have been blamed on the weather.
LENGTH: Medium: 52 linesby CNB