国际英语新闻：Flood threat looms over U.S. city of Fargo

WASHINGTON, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Flood threat from the swelling Red River in North Dakota and a leaking levee have prompted 40 families to evacuate from the state's largest city of Fargo, U.S. officials said on Friday.

    In the city, the river climbed to 12.4 meters by noon on Friday, almost 0.7 meters above the flood point and eclipsing the previous record of 12.05 meters set in April 1897, National Weather Service, or NWS said in a statement.

    Workers are racing against time to pile more than a half-million sandbags against waters that may not subside for a week.

    Nancy Ward, acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is in Fargo to ensure federal aid gets to the right places, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters.

    Authorities have moved 16 truckloads of food to the region in anticipation of sheltering as many as 30,000 Fargo residents, said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

    An additional 96 truckloads were on the way, as was a C-130 cargo plane, she said.

    "Everything that can be done is being done, and helping residents is a top priority now," said Napolitano.

    The NWS expects the waters to reach 12.8 meters by late Saturday in Fargo where the dikes are 13.1 meters high.

    The city has a population of about 100,800.

    The river may rise to 13.1 meters in Fargo, depending on the speed of the snowmelt and the volume of water feeding in from tributaries, authorities said.

    The floodwaters are expected to stay at or near crest for at least a week because the area is flat and there is still snow left to melt.

    Officials said the 13.1-meter-high flood level is the "worst-case scenario."

    "We are not expecting that, but it's not out of the realm of possibility," said Patrick Slattery, an NWS spokesman.

    North Dakota Governor John Hoeven declared a flood emergency across the state, while the federal government declared a major disaster area and a public health emergency.

    Rain and snow blanketed the region this week, covering ground already saturated by snow and rain earlier in the season and raising the water levels of the Red River.

    The Red River, which flows north into Canada, is also flooding around Winnipeg, N.D. 354 kilometers downstream.

    More than 1,000 guard members have been mobilized to deal with the flooding in the state.

    Aside from North Dakota, U.S. President Barack Obama has also declared an emergency in parts of the neighboring state of Minnesota, including Moorhead.

    In Moorhead, which is across the Red River, authorities ordered one-third of the households in the town of about 35,000 to voluntarily evacuate because of the flooding threat. There is no time to raise the dike, said the authorities.

    The floods could prompt farmers to cut spring wheat plantings in the wheat-producing U.S. states of North Dakota and Minnesota.