Fargo shores up levees as new storm threatens
FARGO, N. D. — A blizzard battered North Dakota on Monday, threatening to create wind-whipped waves that could lash the patchwork levee system that has shielded much of Fargo from the swollen Red River.
Engineers scrambled to shore up the dikes in hopes of averting the latest potential disaster that nature has inflicted on this beleaguered city.
The winter storm was expected to bring up to a foot of snow and 30 mph winds that could weaken the levees with big waves. Officials acknowledged that no one knows whether the levees will withstand the punishment.
The Red River dropped to 38.8 feet Monday, nearly 2 feet below its peak but nearly 21 feet above flood stage. City officials have said they would breathe easier when the river falls to 36 or 37 feet or lower.
Authorities were not especially worried about the snowfall because flood levels will have dropped by the time it melts. But forecasters have warned that the river could still rise again. They believe that the river could drop 2 more feet in the coming days before inching upward again.
Engineers were still worried that the levees could give way at any time, and they sent teams out to vulnerable areas Monday to strengthen the system. National Guard members placed sheets of plastic over the levees to shield them against waves.
Tim Bertschi of the Army Corps of Engineers said that when water pressure gets strong enough, the sandbags can begin to shift, a weakness that surging water will exploit.
Another potential problem is posed by large chunks of ice in the river’s currents. When those chunks hit a levee, they can speed its erosion or punch holes in the plastic sheeting. Once water gets in, a levee becomes much more susceptible to failure.
National Guardsmen Brandon Nelson and Cody Renner shuffled along a Fargo dike just south of downtown on Monday, headed toward their assignment for the day: monitoring a small crack in an earthen dike. Should the crack in the dike go unmonitored and widen significantly, it could put the heart of Fargo at risk of flooding.
So they checked the crack every 15 minutes, measuring its depth and prepared to notify the Corps if it grew. Corps officials stood at the ready in a nearby parking lot.
Meanwhile, the second major snowstorm to hit the northern Plains in a week dropped more than a foot of snow Monday, closing hundreds of miles of highway and shutting government offices and schools.
At least five deaths were blamed on the storm — three traffic deaths on suburban Denver roads and two fatal crashes in northern Colorado.
More than 16 inches of snow had fallen by Monday night in the Bismarck area, with more expected. The city closed nonessential government offices and schools.
The weather service forecast 20 to 30 inches of snow in South Dakota’s Black Hills.
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