No more damage in flooded Minot as river ebbs

MINOT, North Dakota — The Souris River began a slow retreat from Minot on Sunday with no further flood damage in the city, but officials warned danger would remain for several days until the highest water passed.

"We're still at full alert until the water starts going down," said Shannon Bauer, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. "It's still a war."

The city's levees were reinforced with plastic sheeting to help them withstand the sustained exposure to high water. Forecasts called for the Souris to fall nearly 2 feet by Wednesday.

More than 4,000 homes and hundreds of businesses flooded when the Souris flowed over levees Friday. Bauer said crews had dealt only with isolated problems since then, including a leaky dike that was reinforced Saturday night.

About a fourth of Minot's 40,000 residents were evacuated early last week in anticipation of flooding. Smaller cities along the Souris also warned their residents to leave. The Corps was sandbagging in Sawyer and Velva, two small downsteam towns of just a few hundred people, that face crests later this week.

On Sunday, North Dakota National Guard soldiers were monitoring a submerged pedestrian bridge in Minot to make sure it didn't break off in the river channel. The bridge has been trapping debris and could harm nearby levees. Guard commander David Sprynczynatyk said soldiers were ready to pull it out if it came loose.

Problems at Minot's water treatment plant prompted the state Department of Health to issue a boil order Saturday for users of city water. The order also applies to the Minot Air Force Base, about 13 miles

A man and boy look at the Souris River flood waters in the Minot, N.D., neighborhood of Oak Park Saturday..

north of town, which gets its drinking water from Minot's municipal system.

Once the Souris recedes, Minot will begin tackling the job of rebuilding. Federal and state agencies have promised to help the counties with the most extensive flood damage.

Les Younger, 65, a retired Air Force veteran who maintained aircraft weapons systems at the Minot Air Force Base, and his wife, Jacque, 64, a seamstress, said they did not buy flood insurance because they thought their home near a middle school and Minot State University was far enough away from the river.

acque Younger said the couple's recovery "is going to be very tough, because we don't have a lot of savings." But they tried to put the best face on it by thinking of how they might change things in rebuilding.

"You have to look on the bright side, because if you look on the dull side, it gets you down," Jacque Younger said.