By Meredith Davis
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Residents of Fargo, North Dakota, rushed on Wednesday to protect their city from the rising Red River which is expected to reach near-record flood levels this weekend.
The Red River reached 31 feet at Fargo, the biggest city in the Red River Valley straddling North Dakota and Minnesota. It had risen 2 feet since Tuesday and is expected to crest at 38 to 39 feet this weekend. The river set a flood record of 40.8 feet in 2009.
Extremely heavy snowfall this winter, as much as quadruple the normal winter, has contributed to flooding.
The Red River entered a major flood stage on Wednesday morning as ice jams caused localized flooding in rural areas, said Greg Gust, warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather service.
As the waters rose, three different major bridges were either closed or slated to be closed by Wednesday afternoon, but no major damage was reported, said Karena Carlson, Fargo's communications manager.
When it reached its record-high flood level last year, the Red River damaged hundreds of homes in the sate and forced the evacuation of hundreds more.
There were 350 National Guards on standby with emergency equipment, with another 150 expected to be deployed by this weekend.
"The soldiers aren't anywhere near conducting rescue missions. They are organizing traffic control, helping residents sandbag, and erecting temporary flood barriers where needed," said Lt. Col Rick Smith of the North Dakota National Guard.
In addition to Fargo, the guards are stationed Wahpeton, North Dakota, a town nearly 50 miles south of Fargo, and Lisbon, North Dakota, nearly 75 miles southwest of Fargo near the Sheyenne River, a tributary of the Red River.
FLOODING COULD SLOW PLANTING
Andrew Swenson, agricultural extension economist at North Dakota State University in Fargo, said the impact on the Red River Valley's agriculture from this year's flooding is unclear.
One concern is the ability of farmers to harvest the roughly one-third of last year's corn crop that was left in the ground because it did not dry out before winter hit.
Another issue is spring planting, which could be delayed. Soybeans are not seeded until May, while wheat and sugar beets should be in the ground by the end of April, Swenson said.
"I don't think there will be much negative impact from the flooding. But it's still too early to tell," he said, noting that flooding is occurring a little earlier this year than last year.
Farmers in the fertile Red River Valley -- an ancient lake bed -- plant soybeans, corn, spring wheat, sugar beets and dry edible beans. Cass County, which includes the city of Fargo, has roughly 500,000 acres of soybeans, the largest acreage of any U.S. county.
(Reporting by Meredith Davis and Andrew Stern; editing by Jim Marshall)
