One house appears dry behind sandbag dike, building to the right is lost in Oakport Township, MN

Oakport Township didn’t fare as well as Fargo when the Red River reached its record high.  120 people had to be rescued by boat when the river overwhelmed a connecting creek and poured into the streets.

There are dozens of homes compromised, with skating rinks in the front yards and water in the basements.

One house belonging to an elderly couple was protected by a sandbag wall but burned to the ground in a blaze apparently sparked by a propane leak. Firefighters could only get within 200 feet of the property because of the flood.

We met Fargo Police Officer Dale Stoll wading out of the water on his flooded street, in uniform headed to work another 12 hour shift. His son is fighting in Afghanistan and learned their house was in trouble via facebook.

“Water hit the electrical outlets so we gotta rewire” Dale told me. ” We have to replace the wood and the hot water heater and furnace…”.

He told me he bought flood insurance March 3rd but it takes 30 days to kick in.

He said it could’ve been worse and he’s trying to stay focused on serving the people of his community and he’s glad to have a job that can help take his mind off his own troubles, but at the same time it’s hard to concentrate knowing all the work that needs to be done at home.

Power crews work on lines as flood waters slowly recede in Oakport.

We watched a power crew in a bucket truck work on electric lines and some guys with a bulldozer and flatbed preparing to replace “road closed” signs with more permanent concrete barricades.

And we met Roger Fremo, who has a strange and eerie shelf of ice at bumper level across his garage marking the flood’s high water mark. He managed to keep most of the river out of his house with a couple pumps running around the clock.

“We had water coming in thru the windows. It was a real battle … but we won”.

He said he was scared when they issued the red alert but decided to stick it out. The neighbors who heeded the warnings and left, he said, were more likely to have suffered in the end.

Check out this pic!

Ice shelf: Original flood line still frozen inside garage

Road conditions are ridiculous. The snow has been coming down thick non-stop for hours. Winds are gusting up to 30 mph, creating drifts and buffeting the few vehicles out and about. There’s thick ice on the pavement and flood waters over some stretches of highway, forcing numerous closures and detours. Travel advisories are in effect and most seem to be heeding the warnings. There’s very little traffic, save for an occasional four-wheel-drive and the snowplows. Visibility is a quarter mile or less near Casselton, where they’ve set up a temporary National Guard and Red Cross staging area and shelter at the local school, which serves all grades. There are no classes all week so the building was available. 144 evacuees from Fargo were brought in Friday and Saturday, taking up residence on cots in the gym. 19 are still here. There’s a medical unit set up, the cafeteria is serving meals and movies are being shown on a TV. Board games are set up on tables in the dining area, and one man played solitaire this afternoon. More evacuees from a nursing home are staying temporarily at St. Leo’s Catholic Church just down the road. Snow has drifted up to the roof line outside the school’s front door, where the wind continues to howl. Otherwise Casselton is quiet, and the deputies we’ve spent the day with have had no emergencies to respond to.

I’ll keep you posted on the latest from Fargo! Keep checking back!

We’re riding in the back of a Cass County Sheriff Deputy’s four door pickup truck. We figured it would be the best way to cover any breaking news in the Fargo area, since the region is suffering through a near blizzard.  8 inches have fallen since last night and the forecast is for up to 18″ total.

Deputy Steve Hahn is behind the wheel, and Deputy Matt Giddings, who normally works as a corrections officer at the county lockup, is riding shotgun.  Photographer Matt Yellin from our L.A. Bureau is next to me in the back.

We’re headed north towards Harwood, trailing behind a fleet of snowplows, taking the long way since the other routes are under water.

Earlier, at 7a local, we sat in on the morning roll-call at the West Fargo PD, held there because Fargo’s HQ is too close to the Red River.

Sheriff Paul Laney was 12 minutes late, forced to deal with the awful conditions just like everyone else.

“There’s nothing but glare ice out there” the officers were warned.  “Roads are absolutely horrible and your visibility is down to zero.  Get in there and hunker down in your area so you can respond to emergency calls.”

Overnight incidents were limited to a few traffic accidents (including one involving two national guard vehicles that wound up in a ditch) and a man who thought he was suffering appendicitis and needed a ride to the hospital.

The Sheriff praised his weary men and women for working around the clock since the flooding began, and urged caution.

“We’re eight, nine days into this. If there was ever a time for situational awareness it’s now.”

“You never made me so proud” he told the room.  “I haven’t heard one deputy whine once.  Have a good shift and be safe.”

He urged caution on the roads.

Keep checking back for more EXCLUSIVE “On the Scene” pics!