"Flood-weary residents of North Dakota bracing for a possible record inundation got their first touch of good news on Wednesday when officials said the swollen Red River would crest at lower than anticipated levels next week."

"Residents in Fargo and neighboring Moorhead, Minnesota, have been filling sandbags ahead of the expected fourth major Red River flood in the past five years after unseasonably cold weather delayed the annual thaw.

But the river was still expected to peak at possibly its second-highest level on record, and flood preparations in the north-central United States follow major flooding on rivers in Illinois, Missouri, Indiana and Michigan caused by heavy rain."

Alicia Underlee Nelson reports for Reuters April 26, 2013. [2]