FARGO, ND (March 25, 2009) \u2013 Members of the Knollbrook Covenant Church have been helping in the community-wide sandbagging effort to protect the city from the rising Red River.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re bracing for the worst and praying for the best,\u201d said Knollbrook Pastor Greg Fullerton.<\/p>\n
The river is expected to crest at around 40 feet on Saturday or Sunday, according to city officials. In a news conference today, they said the city is 95-percent protected against flooding up to 42 feet.<\/p>\n
According to news accounts, volunteers have filled one million of the two million needed sandbags. The ongoing work was being hampered, however, by cold temperatures and snow.<\/p>\n
The Covenant church is about 10 blocks from the river. The record flood that struck the city in 1997 crested at 39.6 feet, but Fullerton says the church and neighboring parsonage were not affected.<\/p>\n
Jim Fretheim, superintendent of the Northwest Conference, said he had talked with pastors of churches in other areas threatened with flooding, but none appeared to be in any immediate danger.<\/p>\n