Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/n-d-s-red-river-valley-prepares-for-massive-flooding Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript President Barack Obama declared North Dakota a federal disaster area Thursday due to floodwaters that have closed roads and bridges throughout the Red River Valley and that weather specialists say have yet to crest. The mayor of Fargo and North Dakota's governor talk about the situation. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. MARGARET WARNER: Thousands of volunteers raced against time in North Dakota and western Minnesota today, shoring up levees ahead of the rapidly rising Red River. VOLUNTEER: The water's coming up. The snow's coming down. And the rain's coming down, so it's crazy. MARGARET WARNER: The north-flowing river is threatening two cities in particular: Fargo, North Dakota's largest, on its West Bank, and low-lying Moorhead, Minn., to its east.Nearly all of the 550 homes in one township there could be swamped. Heavy rains and melting snow are swelling the river into what Fargo's mayor called "uncharted territory." The National Weather Service expects it to crest at a record 41 feet in Fargo this weekend. This morning, the water was at 38.5 feet. EVACUEE: It was terrifying. The water wasn't that deep this morning. And we woke up, and we got to the window, and there, there was the river. It was just right there. MARGARET WARNER: This week's cold snap is complicating efforts. Volunteers worked through snow and bone-chilling cold. Temperatures hovered around 20 degrees today.Some volunteer college students got a break from the cold, filling sandbags inside the Fargodome.Officials in Fargo said they'd raise their dikes to 43 feet, a foot higher than planned, and began construction on a second set of dikes around critical facilities. Hundreds have been forced from their homes in this city of 90,000. The Coast Guard was dispatched to rescue more than a dozen people trapped in their homes south of Fargo, including a 14-month-old child.Neighbors pitched in to help, sandbagging each other's homes. The Red River is also threatening several nearby towns and small cities, and there are still fears of flooding in other parts of the state.There was some good news today across the state in the capital, Bismarck. The Missouri River dropped by two feet, easing the threat to that city and surrounding areas.Last night, National Guard troops used explosives to help clear an ice jam the size of a football field so water could move downstream. EMERGENCY WORKER: We had to relieve some of the pressure of the backwater. MARGARET WARNER: But backed-up water from that blockage had already forced the evacuation of 1,700 people.The entire state of North Dakota was declared a federal disaster area by President Obama on Tuesday.