Fargo officials: Don't panic over threat of more flooding

Sandbags await deployment at the Fargodome
Sandbags await deployment at the Fargodome.
MPR Photo/Stephanie Hemphill

Fargo officials don't want residents to panic over the threat of more flooding in their city.

A National Weather Service flood outlook says the Red River will crest again in mid-April, and there's a good chance it could go higher than the first flood crest.

Fargo city commissioner Tim Mahoney says the city's levees are at 43 feet, and they won't add to them, until they get a better idea of how high the river could go.

"We know people are anxious out there, but you'd hate to have people run out and do 44, if we didn't need it, so we really want to make sure that we're solid on that call," said Mahoney.

This weekend city officials are asking residents to count the number of unused sandbags in their neighborhoods. The city has 500,000 sandbags in reserve, but officials say they might start filling more on Wednesday or Thursday, if necessary.

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