AMENIA, N.D. — On Monday, April 17 floodwaters nearly took over the town of Amenia, and they're closing more roads across the county.
Just north of Tower City, a typical hot spot for flood season in rural Cass County, the Maple River has turned into quite an impressive lake as the snow melted over the weekend.
Roads near town are shutting down left and right. Just south of town, massive chunks of ice piled onto a gravel road after water rushed over that morning.
As Tower City's overland flooding settles in, the town of Amenia is reeling from a close call in its flood fight.
"We got fooled, it looked like it was going to soak in. It really looked like it was going to soak in," said Bill Hejl, chairman of the Rush River Water Resource District.
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North of Casselton by the Rush River snowmelt started building up.
"The water was ready to go over a road north of Amenia, and if it does, it goes right into town," Hejl said.
According to Hejl, something was plugging up the Rush River by a bridge near town. They brought in excavators to pull massive rocks of ice out of the river.
"Some of the pieces of snow and ice that the excavator was plucking out of the channel were about the size of a pickup truck," Hejl said.
Now that they spared Amenia, they have to closely monitor and clear blocks further east until this lake of floodwater reaches the Red River.
"Some of the issues we've been seeing is some of the culverts are still frozen, and so the water instead of going through the culverts is going over top of the roads," said Casselton Fire Department Chief John Hejl.
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