GRAFTON, N.D. (KFGO) - Grafton is preparing for a worst case-scenario flood situation.
The northeastern North Dakota city could see a near record flood crest from the Park River. Police Chief Tony Dumas says the town has already declared an emergency to set in motion to get approval to elevate levees and build temporary dikes. City equipment has been checked out and staged. He says when the thaw begins, notification will go out for volunteers to start stockpiling sandbags That could come as early as next week.
Dumas says the Park River is a huge watershed and funnels water to the Red River from a number of tributaries at a point five miles west of Grafton. The volume of water, along with field runoff from rain-saturated soils last fall has a very good chance of pushing a river crest in Grafton to more than 17 feet. Dumas says if there's no additional precipitation, the community should be okay.
In 1979, the Park River in Grafton crested at more than nineteen-and-a-half feet, flooding large parts of the city, including downtown. Dumas says depending on weather conditions, levee work and stockpiling of sandbags could start early next week.
The spring flood threat in the southern Red River Valley in minor.