The Daily News

Latest reports say the Wild Rice River is expected to crest at 29 feet on Wednesday, which is 2 1/2 feet above the crest in 1997. Richland County officials are directly expressing people in the county who live on or near the Wild Rice River to prepare to evacuate their homes or protect the premises. They are also advising no unnecessary travel during daylight hours as roads are soft, and no night travel is strictly advised. "We've had problems with day travel, people chewing up the roads," said temporary Public Information Officer Warren Stokes. "They're going to cited if they're caught."

The Minnesota/Dakota Avenue bridge on the Wahpeton side will be diked off at 6 p.m. Monday.

Updated predictions say the Red River at Wahpeton-Breckenridge is expected to crest at 19 feet Tuesday morning. As of Monday morning, the Red was at 16.37 feet.

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Wahpeton Mayor Jim Sturdevant said the city feels pretty good about the flooding because the dike system is up to 23 feet. There are some things that may be unforeseen like how much trouble any ice jams may cause, Sturdevant said. Groups of students from Hankinson, Circle of Nations School and Wahpeton High School helped fill sandbags at the south side Wahpeton City Shop Monday afternoon.

Many cities within Richland County are inundated and having issues with septic systems.

At a flood meeting Monday morning, Richland County Emergency Manager Brett Lambrecht said the Wahpeton Armory on the north side of the the city will be a sandbag warehouse for county residents. Empty bags can be picked up at the armory.

Filled sandbags are still being provided at the south side Wahpeton City Shop for Wahpeton residents only.

A volunteer effort began for sandbagging at 1 p.m. Monday. Volunteers were bused from the north side armory in Wahpeton to area locations for sandbagging efforts. A busload of North Dakota State College of Science students left the students center at 1 p.m. to help sandbag at various parts of the city. Mike Renk, vice president of business affairs, said the the city of Wahpeton asked for volunteers from the college, so staff helped gather those willing from residence halls to help sandbag. "We had a pretty good turn out," Renk said. NDSCS called off classes Monday, but will make a final decision around 4:30 p.m. on whether they will close school Tuesday.  

Currently, Lambrecht said the armory has 80,000 sandbags available and the National Guard will be bringing anywhere between 100,000 and 200,000 sandbags over from Otter Tail County.

The National Guard has mobilized 40 guard members to help with the situation like sandbagging, monitoring the diking system and more. Gov. John Hoeven said the entire state will mobilize about 500 more to help throughout the state. Hoeven visited Wahpeton Monday morning to survey the situation. In a meeting with city and county officials, Hoeven said Fargo is watching the crest in Wahpeton-Breckenridge closely. "I appreciate the efforts going on here," Hoeven said.

Wahpeton is expected to receive two sandbagging machines, one from the National Guard and another from the North Dakota Department of Transportation.

Currently, sandbags are being filled at the south side Wahpeton City Shop. They have about 30,000-35,000 on hand there and are expected to get more. Also, in the Beljo addition on the south side of Wahpeton, there is a pile of sand available for those residents.

A busload of students are heading to Wahpeton-Breckenridge to help with sandbagging and other efforts from Battle Lake, Minn.

Look for more updates on the flood after 1 p.m. There will be a conference with the National Weather Service around that time.

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