More than 1,000 volunteers rushed to fill sandbags early Wednesday as many in North Dakota tried to protect themselves from historic floods that are expected to swamp the area.
Volunteers load sandbags Tuesday at North Dakota State University in Fargo.
At 3:30 a.m., hundreds of volunteers were packed into individual sandbagging centers, an organizer said.
"There have been so many volunteers that we had to turn people away," said Ryan McEwan, a supervisor at one volunteer coordinating center. "It is very busy. They are filling sandbags as fast as they can."
Fargo city officials estimated that as many as 10,000 volunteers have come forward since Sunday to aid in a sandbagging effort that has taken over North Dakota State University's central arena, the Fargodome, and to help build levees along the now closely watched Red River.
That river posed the greatest risk of about eight rivers in the state that were at flood levels, emergency officials said.
The fear is that the Red River could overtake all previous records. As of Wednesday morning, the Red River ran at about 33 feet -- 15 feet above flood stage. A record level of 41.1 feet was set in April 1897.
That level could be surpassed Friday, Cecily Fong of the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services said Tuesday.
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