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A US coastguard in
rescue operation. AFP |
FARGO, North Dakota, March 28, (AFP) - Thousands of people have been evacuated from rising waters in North Dakota, US authorities said Friday, voicing fears some 30,000 could be left homeless by the state's worst floods in over a century.
As rising waters from the Red River began to breach levees and miles of sandbag dikes, volunteers battled freezing temperatures in a desperate bid to shore up flood barriers around Fargo, North Dakota.
The US Army Corps of Engineers said a levee holding back the swollen river had leaked, and earlier Friday authorities began evacuating around 150 homes from an area southeast of the city's water plant, the second mandatory evacuation zone established in a matter of hours.
The floods marked US President Barack Obama's first weather crisis and his administration signaled it would not repeat the mistakes of his predecessor George W. Bush, who drew widespread outrage and condemnation for bungling the response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, one of the deadliest natural disasters in US history. |
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