"What people take for granted day to day, like taking a shower and washing clothes, isn't going to happen for quite a while," said National Guard Capt. Greg Bowen. "The sanitary conditions are primitive at best."
The Red River that had flooded 75 percent of the city also shut down the municipal water treatment plant, and there was no water service for the estimated 10 percent of the city's 50,000 inhabitants who hadn't left yet.
"The toilet part is the worst," said Richard George. "We just flush it with melted snow. We were melting snow on the barbecue grill."
Portable bathrooms and drinking water stations were scattered throughout the city's still-dry extreme west end. In public and motel restrooms, the stench built up until crews could periodically come by with flushing water.
The city also supplied most of the water for Grand Forks Air Force Base, where more than 2,000 of the city's refugees were staying.
The base still had a reserve of clean water, was pumping some water from a nearby small town and planned to bring in 20 large tanker trucks, said a spokesperson, Capt. Byron Spencer.
In the meantime, he said: "We're asking people not to use the washing machine, limit their shower usage, things like that."
President Clinton planned to fly over the flooded area and visit the Air Force base on today, the White House said.
City officials held a meeting yesterday afternoon to discuss the proposal for a long water pipeline.
The city water treatment plant and sewer system are expected to be flooded for weeks, and Bowen said the temporary hose or pipeline also could be used to speed up the process of restoring service once the flood ebbs. The city uses about 8 million gallons of water a day.
The hose, probably about 6 inches in diameter, would be made of a rubber-like material with enough flexibility to conform to the contour of the land, officials said.
However, there were no decisions yet on where the pipeline would be placed or even exactly where the water would come from.
Across the river in East Grand Forks, Minn., Mayor Lynn Stauss said his city of 9,000 was "basically covered all the way."
"Some of the homes are floating off their foundations," he said.
Upstream at Fargo, N.D., however, the water was beginning to recede.
There have been minor problems with several dikes, "but for the most part, things are holding together," said Fargo Mayor Bruce Furness.
North Dakota Gov. Ed Schafer said the cleanup alone would easily cost more than $40 million. And U.S. Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) said the cost of repairs could exceed $1 billion.
The river, moving slowly north across the extraordinarily flat terrain of the Red River Valley, was edging toward an expected crest at 54 feet, 26 feet above flood stage. By yesterday afternoon, it had reached 53.9 feet, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
The flood from the melting of the winter's record snowpack was flowing slowly toward the U.S.-Canada border, where the U.S. Customs Service said its border ports of entry at Pembina and Neche would be shut down during the night. Pembina, a major crossing on Interstate 29, is right along the river and Neche, a few miles west, has flooding on low-lying roads.
Farther north, about 140 miles from Grand Forks, the flood is expected to hit Winnipeg, Manitoba, in a couple of weeks on its way to vast Lake Winnipeg and eventually to Hudson Bay.
Students whose Grand Forks schools are closed started enrolling yesterday at nearby rural schools, where they confronted unfamiliar textbooks and often lacked such basics as a pen or paper.
"They're in semi-shock. They just left their homes 48 hours ago," said Larimore school Superintendent John Jankowski. "When you're told to leave your home, do you think about taking your homework with you?"
His rural district of almost 600 students had already admitted 20 young refugees.
The University of North Dakota in Grand Forks simply canceled the last two weeks of its semester.
University student Jason Tomlinson called his parents in Louisville, Ky., telling them he was coming home as soon as the Humane Society rescued his cat for him.
"If I didn't have a cat, I wouldn't be here," he said yesterday.
He said his parents understood his situation.
"The Ohio flooded my parents out just a couple months ago," he said. "It's following the family."
AP PHOTO
This house flooded up to its second floor yesterday in Grand Folks, N.D. due to continued flooding of the Red River which is 25 feet over flood level.