Work Begins to Protect Minnewaukan School

MINNEWAUKAN, N.D. (AP) — Work has begun on a temporary levee to protect the school and other parts of Minnewaukan from the encroaching Devils Lake.

Superintendent Myron Jury tells KZZY radio that the Corps of Engineers estimates the cost of the project that began Wednesday at $1.2 million. It should be done in a month.

The lake has been expanding for nearly three decades because of wet weather. Jury says the floodwaters are now only 80 feet from the school's back door.

The federal Education Department last fall approved a new school for the Benson County town. Jury says the school district plans to open bids on June 15. He says officials hope the new school on higher ground will be ready by the fall of 2012.

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