Evacuated residents of ND city to return Friday

The threat of a possible dam failure on a river near a northeastern North Dakota city eased on Thursday, and officials said most of the 1,300 evacuated residents would be allowed to return to their homes within 24 hours.

The residents of Cavalier were told to leave Tuesday night while crews built an emergency levee to shore up a dam on the Tongue River, six miles west of the city.

Five days of steady rain had led to a 17-foot rise in the lake behind Renwick Dam, causing fears that the emergency spillway at the earth-and-concrete dam would be overwhelmed and unleash water downstream, flooding rural farmsteads and the city.

The water began to recede around mid-day Wednesday and had dropped by about a foot by sunrise Thursday, Pembina County Emergency Manager Andrew Kirking said. The decline was continuing at a rate of about 1 1/4 inches per hour, prompting the decision to allow most residents to go home at 7 a.m. Friday, Kirking said.

"We want to make it clear, they are still in somewhat of a dangerous situation, with overland flooding, and the flooding has not receded off the emergency levee," he said. "We do want them to come in to monitor their homes, with the understanding that they may need to evacuate again," should conditions worsen.

The National Weather Service has forecast rain over the Memorial Day weekend in North Dakota, but Kirking said officials do not view that as a threat.

About five dozen patients from a hospital, nursing home and assisted living facility in Cavalier are not being allowed back until the lake returns to normal levels. That is not expected to happen for a week to 10 days, Kirking said.

The patients have been taken to care facilities in surrounding communities or to the homes of relatives. Other residents in the city also have been staying with relatives or friends, or in hotels in larger eastern North Dakota cities such as Grand Forks and Fargo, Kirking said.

When they return home they will be asked to restrict their water use because Cavalier's wastewater system is already stressed by floodwaters flowing into storm drains and residents pumping water out their basements, he said.

Downpours between Friday and Tuesday dumped about 9 inches of rain on parts of Pembina County. In Crystal, a town of about 160 residents about 15 miles to the south, six families evacuated their homes Tuesday when the town was flooded by rain runoff. That water began receding Wednesday, and there was none left on Thursday, Kirking said.

"Their situation is improving dramatically," he said. "We have ordered in several cleaning kits from the American Red Cross in Grand Forks, to help citizens begin the cleanup process."