Flooding damages crops, closes county roads, bridges

(AP) - Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker declared a state of emergency Monday as his city prepared for another flood fight with plans for an earthen dike to protect downtown from the Red River.

Walaker estimated the diking would cost more than $50,000. While it is not a "life and death" situation, he said, involves a "significant" cost and inconvenience for many people.

The Red, swollen from heavy weekend rain, is expected to crest at around 33 feet, or 15 feet above flood stage, in Fargo by early Friday.

Park District officials are preparing to move the Roger Maris golf tournament if river crest predictions come true and the city's Edgewood Golf Course floods.

Crews have been building a dike on the north side of the city's Jack Williams Stadium.

"If the numbers (for the Red River crest) stay at 32, 33 (feet), the water would cover most of our big parks," Park District Director Roger Gress said. If the grass dies, he said, "it would take a month and a half to bring it back. That's worst-case scenario."

To the south, more than 40 roads and bridges in Richland County were closed after heavy weekend rain, county officials said

Richland County Emergency Manager Brett Lambrecht said three-quarters of the county got nearly 5 inches of rain over a 40-period that ended Saturday night.

About 30 homes in Wahpeton and neighboring Breckenridge, Minn., had flooding or sewage backup problems in their basements on Saturday, Lambrecht said.

Sandbagging was being done in some cities and farms in the region to protect sewage lift stations and septic systems, he said.

Meteorologist Jim Kaiser, at the National Weather Service in Grand Forks, said Wilkin and Grant counties in Minnesota also saw some flooding.

The National Weather Service said Monday that the Red has crested in Wahpeton, but will remain above major flood stage there until Wednesday.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)