Volunteers fight to save town after torrential rain

MANVEL, N.D. - Three years ago, Bill Johnson was heaving sandbags to fend off the Red River as it overran Grand Forks, not far to the south. On Wednesday, he was back on sandbag duty, trying to save his own home.

''This could be bad, because there is so much water coming this way,'' said Johnson, a lifelong resident of Manvel.

Manvel, a town of about 300 north of Grand Forks, was threatened by a sea of water flowing out of the Turtle River and slowly making its way over roads and fields. Twenty inches of rain hit northeastern North Dakota on Monday and Tuesday.

Gov. Ed Schafer issued an emergency disaster declaration. He said early indications were that about 75 homes in three counties were damaged or flooded, though damage reports were still coming in.

The Grand Forks County sheriff's office said the body of Anthony Schneider, 25, was recovered from a station wagon that went into a washout northwest of Larimore late Monday. A 26-year-old man who had accompanied Schneider was missing.

Residents of Gilby, west of Manvel, were without water Wednesday and the National Guard was providing a trailer with drinking water for approximately 250 residents there, the governor said.

About nine miles away, the small town of Mekinock was evacuated Tuesday night after residents could not hold back the rising water.

More than 200 farms have lost crops, said Grand Forks County extension agent Morris Davidson.

''The loss is in the millions and millions of dollars,'' he predicted.

Officials at Turtle River State Park, near Larimore, said the flooding stranded assistant manager Todd Haugen, his wife and young daughter and two campers on one side of the river.

''We're ferrying across some groceries to them tonight,'' park manager Steve Crandall said Wednesday afternoon.

Flood stage for the Turtle River at Manvel was 11 feet, the National Weather Service said. The river was expected to crest at between 14 feet and 17 feet sometime Thursday.