Earlier reports af an ice jam had broken on the Missouri River was false. It warned of a rush of 1 to 2 feet of water towards Bismark, ND.
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning in place in the counties of Burleigh, Emmons and Morton in North Dakota. Previous reports of an ice jam that broke on the Missouri River is false. It is leaking, but it has not broke. The Corps of Army Engineers planned to use explosives and rock salt on an ice jam on the Missouri River, today. It would have ease flood waters threatening low-lying areas of the city of Bismark, ND. The Corps of Engineers also planned to stop the water from flowing in the Garrison Dam. This would control flooding.
More volunteers were called to help sand bag the river. It continued to pour water from it's contributaries. The plan was to lay rock salt along the ice on the river, to make a channel, then place explosives, and break the ice jam.
Cecily Fong of the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services said "This has never been attempted before," said Fong of the explosives solution. "We need to get this ice jam broken up."
"Overall, we've had more problems with ice jams this year than they did in '97. In '97 there was a gradual melt in March so even after near record snows in April, there was less snow and ice," he said. He said this year's thicker ice is harder to break up and "less predictable."
Some of the chunks of ice were as large as cars, and broke loose from the Heart River, then flowed into the Missouri River, near Maden.
Ice usually flows from the Heart to the Missouri, Fong said, but this year's severe winter, which was colder and has lasted longer than previous seasons, produced thicker blocks of ice that haven't had a chance to thaw.
The premature report of the ice jam breaking, certainly caused fear among the residents. But the river had not "gone up since midnight," explained North Dakota Gov. John Hoevven and Bismarck Mayor John Warford.
Some of the residents evacuated, including Bruce Schumacher. The evacuation was not called or mandatory.
Mr. Schumacher said, "
You grab what you can. You don't know what to do. There's nothing you can do. So you just leave,"
Fargo ran out of sandbags, briefly, on Wednesday, due to the icy roads, and the trucks being unable to deliver them. The Corps of Engineers found a local supplier and finished 95% of the sand bagging of the river. Later, engineers checked the dikes, to make sure they were leak free.
The city hardest hit with the flood in 1997,
Grand Fork, continued to sandbag the Red River. The Red River had risen to 42 feet this morning. In 1997, the Red River crested at 54.4 feet.
At least three homes in Oxbow, a small town south of Fargo, were evacuated.
