picture-51The Red River, which runs along the Minnesota/North Dakota border, broke a 112-year record today, rising to 40.37 feet early this morning and forcing evacuations of some 40 more homes. The water’s expected to hit 42 feet today — more than double the 18-foot flood level and above the 1897 record of 40.1 feet. Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Rep. Collin Peterson announced yesterday that the Obama administration has approved federal disaster funds for Minnesota’s seven northwestern counties: Clay, Kittson, Marshall, Norman, Polk, Traverse, and Wilkin. Today both legislators will do a flyover of the river valley and then meet with officials and volunteers in affected ares. The Boston Globe’s always-excellent feature, The Big Picture, focuses in on the swelling waterway and extraordinary effort of volunteers and National Guardsmen who face challenging weather as they work to secure homes, businesses and lives. 

Update: Gov. Tim Pawlenty has added himself to Klobuchar and Peterson’s media availability event at 2 pm today.

(Above, a Reuters shot by Eric Miller of Fargo resident Russ Richards sandbagging his home.)