Clay dikes going up in Lisbon

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers started building clay dikes in Lisbon, N.D., on Tuesday.

The Ransom County town of 2,300 residents has also filled 9,500 sandbags, but Mayor Ross Cole said he hopes they won’t need to be used in town.

“There will be a lot of bags in the surrounding area that we will have to deal with, but hopefully here in town, we won’t have to,” Cole said.

The Sheyenne River at Lisbon was at 12.4 feet as of 3 p.m. Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service. Moderate flood stage is 17 feet.

A flood warning is in effect for the Sheyenne at Lisbon until Monday morning.

Cole said Lisbon residents are taking it in stride.

“The volunteerism has been great so far, and it seems that everybody is pretty much upbeat,” he said.

The National Weather Service forecasts the Sheyenne will rise above flood stage by late Thursday morning and continue to rise to a near-17.5-foot crest by early afternoon Friday.

The forecast crest has been lowered because the water released from Baldhill Dam will decrease to around 200 cubic feet of water per second from Lake Ashtabula for a couple of days beginning today Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.

Major flood stage is 19 feet.

The Highway 27 bridge that connects the Lisbon’s east and west sides has to be shut down at 19.5 feet.

The Sheyenne crested at a record 22.8 feet in Lisbon last year.

Tracy Frank is a reporter for The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead, which is owned by Forum Communications Co.

Tags: north dakota, news, lisbon, flood, clay, dike, water