ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Tuesday, April 22, 1997                TAG: 9704220082
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A-1  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: GRAND FORKS, N.D.
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

N.D. CITY HOLDS ITS BREATH - AND ITS NOSE STENCH FROM LACK OF SEWER FACILITIES ADDS INSULT TO INJURY

President Clinton will fly over Grand Forks today, where the Red River has reached its expected crest of 54 feet.

With a record flood filling most of the city with filthy water, city officials said Monday they were considering stringing a hose up to eight miles across the prairie to bring in clean water so people could at least wash their hands.

``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 reached its projected crest of 54 feet Monday night, 26 feet above flood stage. The National Weather said the river would stay around that level for several days but could inch up slightly.

The river, which had flooded 75 percent of the city, also shut down the municipal water treatment plant. There was no water service for the estimated 10 percent of the Grand Forks' 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 water for flushing.

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 was pumping some water from a nearby small town and planned to bring in 20 large tanker trucks, said a spokesman, 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 today, the White House said.

City officials met Monday to discuss the proposal for a long water pipeline.

The city water treatment plant and sewer system are expected to be flooded for weeks. The temporary pipeline, 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.however,

North Dakota Gov. Ed Schafer said the cleanup alone would cost more than $40 million. And Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said the cost of repairs could exceed $1 billion.

Students whose Grand Forks schools are closed started enrolling Monday at nearby rural schools, where they confronted unfamiliar textbooks and lacked such basics as a pen or paper.

``They're in semi-shock. They just left their homes 48 hours ago,'' said Larimore schools Superintendent John Jankowski. ``When you're told to leave your home, do you think about taking your homework with you?'

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.

``If I didn't have a cat, I wouldn't be here,'' he said Monday.

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.''

LENGTH: Medium:   83 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  ASSOCIATED PRESS. 1. The shells of 11 downtown Grand 
          Forks buildings rise eerily out of the floodwaters after fire 
          destroyed them over the weekend. North Dakota officials estimate 
          cleaning up the flooded city will cost more than $40million, and the
          cost of repairs could exceed $1billion. 2. Dump trucks wait to back 
          their loads of dirt onto the end of a dike under hasty construction 
          Monday in Grand Forks, N.D. color.