WEST FARGO - Overland flooding filled fields and swamped subdivisions north and west of here Friday. Water shot up more quickly than expected, and many residents said the levels are higher than they saw during the 2009 flood.
Water poured over the intersection of Cass County Roads 20 and 17 on Friday afternoon, as well as several other spots along both well-traveled thoroughfares. A National Guard vehicle was stationed at the intersection to restrict travel to local residents only.
Water also covered several township roads. Cass County issued a safety reminder about traveling on county roads, noting the locations and depths of water on the road surfaces change hourly.
The Sheyenne really started breaking out of its banks late Thursday and into Friday, said Jason Benson, a Cass County engineer.
"A lot of people are losing access now," he said Friday afternoon. "It's gone over some different roads, parts of roads that it hadn't gone over before."
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One reason is extremely high levels on the Maple River, which flows into the Sheyenne just north of West Fargo, Benson said. Though the Maple dropped Friday, river gauges early Thursday morning measured the Maple at 910.16 feet, which is higher than the official historical crest of 909.83 in 2006.
Water surrounded but did not cross Interstate 29, recently rebuilt to a higher elevation, which provided an alternate north-south route for commuters.
Benson fielded nonstop phone calls Friday from rural residents requesting more sandbags due to overland flooding from the Maple, Sheyenne and Rush rivers. He praised the county's volunteer sandbag program that allowed rural residents to fill bags in advance using the county's spider machine. Now, instead of trying to deliver truckloads of sand on flooded roads, contractors moved pallets of sandbags using smaller rigs.
One area in need of sandbags and volunteers Friday afternoon was along County Road 10 just west of West Fargo. As a shuttle-load of volunteers built a ring dike around the home of Howard Slaughter, more people were called in to help Jim Burgard, Slaughter's neighbor to the southwest. Burgard was trying to reinforce the leaking dike around his property, but Benson encouraged him to focus on protecting his home.
"Are we ever going to get some relief?" Don Pederson, a neighbor to Slaughter and Burgard, asked Benson as he requested two, then four, more pallets. "Man, it shot up today. This is worse than '09, right here, right now."
Jim Schrock, who lives a mile north and a mile west of Harwood, said the water was as high on his driveway as it's been in the seven years he's lived there.
His home is built high enough, so this year instead of constructing a sandbag wall to fully dike his property, he allowed it to flood. His only concern was for the neighboring dog kennel, which was recently purchased by a new owner.
"We're just trying to keep her dry," Schrock said.
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Readers can reach Forum reporter Sherri Richards at (701) 241-5556
