Volunteers Pile Sandbags to Curb Northern Plains Flooding

Thousands of volunteers piled sandbags Tuesday in a desperate effort to hold off rising rivers across the flood-ravaged northern Plains.

Record-low April temperatures created dangerous ice jams on swollen waterways and froze flood waters around and inside homes, cars and anything else caught in the overflow.

In Wahpeton, a city of 10,000 about 50 miles south of Fargo, residents scrambled to plug gaps in dikes that had been purposely breached to allow trapped flood waters to flow out. Similar efforts were underway across the region.

Upstream in Appleton, Minn., a mass of volunteers rescued the town from the cresting Pomme de Terre River. A floating wooden crate damaged a sandbag dike late Monday and hundreds answered the call to repair the breach.

Several towns and farmhouses had to be evacuated with the aid of helicopters and military vehicles after becoming surrounded by the flood waters.

Ada, Minn., was deserted after an emergency evacuation Monday. A sign hung on the garage of an inundated home in Bruce, N.D., read “Parking reserved for fishermen only.”

Thousands of people across the two states remained without electricity or heat after high-voltage towers were toppled by a powerful weekend storm.

Students at North Dakota State University in Fargo were excused from class to help fill and stack sandbags along the city’s temporary dikes, which, authorities said, needed to be raised one foot.

The adjacent Red River was rising fast and expected to crest during the weekend at 38 feet, which is 20 feet above flood stage.

North and South Dakota were declared disaster areas Monday and Minnesota was added to the list Tuesday. The move makes federal funds available for aid to the states.