Snowmelt, rain worsen flooding in northern Plains

Historic flooding in the Missouri River basin spurred voluntary evacuations in North Dakota on Monday, while in Montana emergency workers ferried food and water to a town cut off by flood waters. The measures came as states in the northern Rockies and northern Plains plan for displacement of thousands and scramble to build levees in an expanding fight against river overflows predicted to worsen in coming weeks. The crisis has caused governors in Montana, the Dakotas and Wyoming to call up hundreds of National Guard soldiers to bag sand and try to dissuade anxious property owners from navigating submerged roads and washed-out bridges.