MINOT, N.D. ? Thousands of Minot residents faced a Wednesday deadline to evacuate their homes for a second time in a month as the rising Souris River moved closer to swamping the North Dakota city with what is predicted to be its worst flood in four decades.
Officials have ordered about 11,000 people, or a quarter of the city's residents, to evacuate by 6 p.m. But they cautioned even that deadline may be too generous, and said they are prepared to sound warning sirens if water spills over Minot's protective levees any earlier.
"Public safety is paramount," Mayor Curt Zimbelman said Tuesday. "The water is rising fast, and people need to get evacuated as soon as possible."
Water from the Souris River, which loops down from Canada through north central North Dakota and is bloated by heavy spring snowmelt and rain on both sides of the border, is forecast to top the city's levees by late Wednesday or early Thursday, the National Weather Service said Wednesday. Initially forecasters said it would wash over the levees by Friday.
The resulting deluge is expected to dwarf the historic flood of 1969, when the Souris reached 1,555.4 feet above sea level. The river was less than one-tenth of a foot from that level early Wednesday. It's expected to hit nearly 1,563 feet by June 30 and will likely top the historical record of 1,558 feet set in 1881 by Friday.
National Weather Service meteorologist Nathan Heinert said Wednesday that the timing of the crests is hard to predict because of the lack of precedent for the river hitting such a high level.
"This is abnormal levels. There's a lot of uncertainty. There is more uncertainty the higher (the water) goes. These crests are probably subject to further changes," Heinert said.
About 10,000 Minot residents were evacuated earlier this month before the river hit 1,554.1 feet. They were later allowed to return to their homes, but told to be ready to leave again quickly.
The 1969 flood prompted the Army Corps of Engineers to build a dike system that has been beefed up several times since. But those levees are unable to contain the latest flows coming south from Saskatchawan.
Zimbelman said crews are focusing efforts on building dikes to protect critical infrastructure such as the sewer system, water plants, schools and City Hall. The city also is working on plans to put up secondary dikes outside fringe areas.
Officials at Minot International Airport, which sits on a hill on the north part of town, said the airport will remain fully operational.
"Once we have the critical sites secured, we'll start on these other areas trying to protect as many homes and businesses as possible," he said. "We will continue until the water pushes us out of the area."
Similar protective efforts are being made in the nearby 1,200-resident town of Burlington.
Gov. Jack Dalrymple said Tuesday that residents in Burlington evacuation zones need to be out by noon Wednesday. Ward County residents living along the river must evacuate by 6 p.m., he said.
About 41,000 people live in Minot, the fourth-largest city in North Dakota. It was formed in the late 1800s during construction of the Great Northern Railroad. Its economy is bolstered by the extensive agricultural community that surrounds it, as well as by Minot Air Force Base and the recent oil boom in western North Dakota.
Nearly 500 North Dakota National Guard soldiers were in Minot to provide traffic control, ensure people were leaving left their homes and secure neighborhoods.
Guard commander Dave Sprynczynatyk said he expected the impending flood to be one of greatest as far as impact on the community as a whole that he's seen during his 40-year career.
"What I see right now is probably the most devastating in terms of the number of people directly impacted and what will likely be the damage to homes as the water begins to overtop the levees and fill in behind," he said.
Ann Hoggarth, who lives alongside the river, said she felt almost numb Tuesday as she struggled to move some of her belongings to higher ground.
"I've got three stories so I'm hoping the furniture will be OK upstairs," she said, "but I'm a single mom and I had to ship my kids off to their dad, so I don't have anyone to help me."
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