1-ton sand bags saving N.D. school

FARGO, N.D., March 29 (UPI) -- One-ton sand bags lowered onto a leaking dike were doing the trick Sunday, saving a Fargo school from being inundated by the swollen Red River, officials said.

A U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter was used to position 11 of the huge sandbags along the steel cofferdam where the river flows past Oak Grove Lutheran School, the Fargo Forum reported.

"Last night seemed to be the dawning of a very dark day for us and our neighborhood and our community," school President Bruce Messelt told the Forum. "But it took some absolutely brilliant thinking from some incredible people, and we are fighting the fight and we are at this point winning the fight."

City public crews followed up by pumping out water that had flooded the basement of one of the five campus buildings and partially filled another.

Flooding along the river in North Dakota and Minnesota caused two deaths and 50 injuries, officials told CNN Sunday.

The National Weather Service said that by 2:15 p.m. the river stood at 39.92 feet, down from 40.31 feet 12 hours earlier and a high of 40.82 feet Saturday. Forecasters, however, warned of the ongoing uncertainty of the situation.

"Conditions on the Red River at Fargo and Moorhead (Minn.) remain dangerous," the weather service said, while noting the level "is expected to slowly decrease over the next several days."

"However, reports indicate that there is still significant overland flooding south of Fargo and this water is expected to still flow into the Red River between Hickson and Fargo. It is not unusual for stages to fluctuate in large floods of this magnitude. The risk of additional flooding in the area will remain very high for the next few days."