Dike breach causes home evacuations in Minnesota

GRANITE FALLS, Minnesota (CNN) -- About a dozen homes on the east side of the Minnesota River were evacuated Sunday when a dike, which was eight feet above flood stage, began seeping.

"They're trying to save it," said Granite Falls Police Dispatcher Chuck Hardy. Members of the National Guard in orange wet suits were helping townspeople haul clay, rock and sandbags to close the breach, he said.

Hardy estimated more than 700,000 sandbags had been filled and arrayed in low-lying areas of the town, more than 200 for each of the 3,000 residents of the community in central Minnesota.

Still, the basements of about 10 buildings in the business district contained about four feet of water, said Darcy Mulvihill, the city's finance director. Mulvihill was in City Hall -- one of the flooded buildings -- catching up on paper work Easter Sunday.

INTERACTIVE Techniques for fighting flood waters     CNN WEATHER FORECASTS Wahpeton, ND Fargo, ND Grand Forks, ND Breckenridge, MN Granite Falls, MN     RESOURCES CNN weather satellite: U.S. North Central

Workers were trying to contain the leak by covering the dike with plastic sheeting and "trying to shore it up," she said.

Henry Fageroos, a water and hydroelectric engineer for the city, said the flood was not as bad as the 1997 downpours, when the river rose 11 feet over flood stage.

He watched as the residents of threatened houses near the dike loaded their children, suitcases, pets and "whatever they could get out of the house" into vehicles and drove off.

The Red Cross was offering services, but nearly all the evacuees were staying with friends and relatives, he said.

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