Volunteers, Troops Pour In as Rising Rivers Imperil Cities

MONTEVIDEO, Minn. — Volunteers from as far as 50 miles away passed sandbags hand to hand during a steady rain Saturday, trying to protect this town’s sole source of clean water from a rising flood.

The southwestern Minnesota town sits where the Chippewa and Minnesota rivers merge, normally forming a stream about 100 yards across. On Saturday, the water stretched out to about a mile wide, flooding two of the three main highways into town. More than 100 families had been evacuated.

The water rose steadily, going from a record 22 feet late Friday to 23 feet--10 feet higher than normal--by midday Saturday. It was expected to crest today at between 24 and 25 feet.

More snow fell Saturday in Wyoming, Montana and the western Dakotas, with 10 inches overnight at Dickinson, N.D., and blizzard warnings were posted for much of both Dakotas. Sections of interstate highways were closed in North and South Dakota, and in Wyoming, where drifts were up to 5 feet high.