In Arizona, one of the largest wildfires in the southwestern state’s history grew even larger Friday night and another mountain community has been warned it might have to evacuate.
Greer was given a pre-evacuation notice after the so-called Wallow fire expanded.
Fire incident commander John Philbin says the fire pushed northward and grew by 15,000 acres to 120,600 acres.
That increase made the blaze the third largest in state history.
The Apache County Sheriff’s Department issued the notice to Greer, but there was no word on when or if the residents would have to leave. Greer has less than 200 permanent residents but the town and area attract many vacationers.
Scores of people in a few White Mountain towns in the area were ordered to evacuate over the past two days.
In the north central state of South Dakota, residents in low-lying villages of Pierre and Fort Pierre heeded calls to leave for higher ground ahead of the planned release of water from upstream dams along the swollen Missouri River.
South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard said no one was ordered to leave home ahead of Friday’s planned dam releases, but it appeared few were willing to take their chances.
Curt Mortenson, 59, said he and his wife moved into a home they built upstream of Fort Pierre just eight months ago.
He was born in 1952, the year of the last great flood to swamp the cities, which happened before the construction of dams to prevent future catastrophes.
“Here I am back,” Mortensen said.
Water releases from the Oahe Dam were expected to increase slightly starting Friday morning and gradually rise until Tuesday, when water levels were projected to crest four feet higher, or about two feet below the levee top.
Officials have kept the releases steady for nearly a week as people moved possessions to higher ground, placed sandbags around their homes and arranged for other places to live.
A similar release schedule was planned starting Saturday at Gavin’s Point Dam upstream of Dakota Dunes, where the water level is expected to eventually rise another seven feet by June 14, again cresting about two feet below the tops of levees.
Daugaard and other officials said emergency earthen levees being built to protect the threatened areas should be completed in time to stop the rising water, but the governor warned people not to assume the levees would hold.
