Ice jams make flooding worse around Bismarck, ND

BISMARCK, N.D. — Officials issued an urgent call for volunteers to help with sandbagging Wednesday as record amounts of water poured into the Missouri River and evacuations were ordered in riverside areas.

National Guard members made plans to fly over the Missouri River to assess flooding conditions and the possibility of dropping explosives to break up one of the ice jams backing up water in the Bismarck area.

Although Fargo had been a focus of activity because of the rising Red River, Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., called Bismarck "the most urgent threat" in North Dakota because of the ice jams and new snowfall.

The call for volunteers Wednesday was made after residents of low-lying subdivisions in Bismarck and Mandan were told to leave their homes Tuesday as access roads flooded.

Officials did not immediately have an estimate on the number of people forced to evacuate. They included 146 inmates of the Missouri River Correctional Center, a minimum-security prison along the river.

Fox Island residents Jane and Michael Pole didn't need much prodding to evacuate. "We just grabbed a bag, threw some stuff in and left," Jane Pole said.

President Barack Obama declared North Dakota a federal disaster area, which means the federal government will pay 75 percent of state and local government costs for the flood fight.

A National Guard spokesman, Lt. Dan Murphy, said pilots were discussing weather conditions Wednesday morning to see when they could plan a flight to survey the ice jams in the Missouri River.

The National Weather Service said two ice jams were reported — one just south of Fox Island and one north of Bismarck. Officials said the threat intensified as a blizzard struck the area Tuesday.

"We think putting explosives on the ice jam is the best option," Gov. John Hoeven said at a news conference Tuesday. "We've identified a demolition team and we are arranging to fly them in to help with the placement of explosives."

The Army Corps of Engineers on Tuesday cut water releases for the first time ever from the Garrison Dam north of Bismarck to ease flooding. No water will be released from the upstream dam until the flooding eases in Bismarck, spokesman Paul Johnston said.

A reduction in the water releases takes about two days to reach the city, he said.

And it doesn't affect other sources of water.