Red River, Flood | featured news

Fargo's fears of a catastrophic flood eased Saturday with word that the Red River apparently crested at lower-than-expected levels, and weary residents turned their attention to ensuring their hastily built levees hold up against an onslaught of ice-laden water expected to stay high for at least a week.

Thousands of shivering, tired residents got out while they could and others prayed that miles of sandbagged levees would hold Friday as the surging Red River threatened to unleash the biggest flood North Dakota's largest city has ever seen.

Residents and volunteers in the North Dakota city work to reinforce a man-made barrier, bracing themselves for a record-breaking crest. As snow continued to fall Thursday across North Dakota's frozen plains, weary volunteers and frantic residents in Fargo scrambled to bolster the 12-mile-long man-made barrier that was holding back the Red River.

The Army Corps of Engineers planned to use rock salt and explosives to blow up a huge ice jam on the Missouri River near Bismarck, N.D., Wednesday in an unprecedented effort to ease floodwaters threatening low-lying areas of the city.