FARGO, N.D. - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers St. Paul District has resumed work to help protect communities along the Red River from upcoming high water levels predicted by the National Weather Service.

This work will include raising many levees to 44 feet, one foot higher than the 43 feet they were raised to for the March 23 crest.

The latest outlook by the National Weather Service shows a 75 percent chance of the Red River of the North rising to 41 feet in Fargo later this month.  There is also a 25 percent chance water levels could reach or exceed 42.8 feet.

Corps employees returned to Fargo over the weekend to begin examining the approximately 30 miles of emergency levees and emergency levee raises that were constructed in before the first record-breaking crest at the end of March.

Engineers will raise levees and looking for any weaknesses or potential issues that need to be addressed before the waters rise again.

The Corps and its contractors will reinforce earthen levees, build more HESCO Bastion levees and provide sandbags as needed in communities along the Red River in anticipation of the predicted second crest.

The St. Paul District began emergency levee work in Fargo and the Red River basin on March 19, 2009, before the first crest of the Red River. To date, the Corps has provided more than 9.5 million sandbags, 100 pumps, more than 3,500 rolls of polyethylene, approximately 30 miles of temporary emergency levees and emergency levee raises and nearly 7 miles of HESCO temporary structures.

The St. Paul District serves the American public in the areas of environmental enhancement, navigation, flood damage reduction, water and wetlands regulation, recreation sites and disaster response. It contributes around $126 million to the five-state district economy. The more than 625 employees work at more than 40 sites in five upper-Midwest states. For more information, wisit the District's website.