Flood waters 'devastate' Fargo school

MOORHEAD, MINN. — Whenever Terri Walker faced disaster, she turned to God.

When her husband battled leukemia. When she helped clean up after Hurricane Katrina. And now, with her waterfront home of 21 years probably destroyed by the Red River.

So on Sunday, she and her husband, Duane, sought solace at their church, Trinity Lutheran, in Moorhead.

"We wanted to be in the company of other believers," she said, fingering a chain with a gold cross. "They know your plight and they pray for you, and that's going to get us through the next few months."

Across the waterlogged towns of North Dakota and Minnesota, residents weary from a weeklong fight against an obstinate river searched for strength in sermons and Biblical verse.

The National Weather Service said the river probably would remain below 41 feet, and on Sunday it ebbed below 40 feet. But a snowstorm was marching into the region. If the weather stays cold, the levees should be enough, officials said. But if that snow were to turn to rain, or if winds were to stir the roiling river into waves, water could flow over the barriers and weaken or destroy them.

Days ago, the weather service had expected the river to crest as high as 43 feet -- the height of the primary levees.

Strong winds, and a river running three times faster than normal, could further stress the barriers of earth, clay and sand, which must withstand high water for days. Because the area is so flat and the soil so saturated, the river has little place to drain. It's akin to ice cubes pooling on a plate as they melt.

On Sunday, officials in Fargo, N.D., felt confident enough to discuss when they might reopen stores and schools, but they also resumed efforts to stockpile sandbags. Neighborhoods in Fargo and across the river in Moorhead were still evacuated. Moreover, few families in the region own flood insurance, the Associated Press reported.

Fargo officials said five homes had been lost -- far fewer than had been feared. More homes were thought to have been destroyed in Minnesota and in rural Cass County, N.D., where some folks were stranded amid lakes of icy runoff. North Dakota authorities said two people had died from cardiac problems and 62 had been injured.

At a news briefing in Fargo, officials began with a prayer and a warning. About 1:15 a.m., water had slipped under a permanent steel barrier at Oak Grove Lutheran School, swamping two of five buildings.