It's been all over the news - Minot, North Dakota is under water. Minot is about an hour and a half away from where I grew up on my family farm, and it's hard to watch from afar as this disaster takes over the area.

Facebook, gotta love it - but it also brings you face to face with issues your family and friends are dealing with. Everything from I bet my home is gone, to helping walk doggies kept at the local shelter until the waters reside - which may be many weeks.

While my brain is here doing my normal functions, work, walk the dogs, cook dinner - my heart is as home. Our family is lucky and staying dry, but many are not. We are praying for you ND! ~Erin

 

Minot, North Dakota (CNN) -- The summer flooding in Minot, North Dakota, will enter record territory Friday morning as the Souris River surges toward a peak, days ahead of original forecasts by the National Weather Service.

The river, which stood 1,556 feet above sea level early Friday, is forecast to top the 1881 record of 1,558 feet by mid-morning and peak at 1564.5 feet late Saturday or early Sunday. That would put the Souris more than six feet higher than the old record.

The waters were rushing into the area faster and in greater amounts than expected, overflowing a lake near the city, officials said, exacerbating the region's flood concerns.

But Minot Mayor Curt Zimbelman said Thursday that no new evacuations had been ordered, even though "the flows coming into Lake Darling are reaching the lake quicker and at a greater volume than predicted."

"Due to this, Lake Darling has increased its outflow," the mayor added -- increasing flooding in the flood-plain, though not to a point that it yet changes the "inundation zone."

About 12,000 residents have evacuated their homes, according to Minot Fire Department Capt. Dean Lenertz. The mayor of Minot and the state's governor congratulated citizens on an organized and efficient evacuation, with Gov. Jack Dalrymple saying it had "gone extremely well."

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