Duluth residents still evacuated after flooding

DULUTH, Minn. (AP) - Emergency officials in Minnesota say it's still not safe for evacuated residents to return to their homes in the low-lying areas near Duluth.

Police say roads in Fond du Lac could still be unstable and there's still standing water. The city is trying to come up with a plan to allow residents back to their homes by Monday.

The U.S. Coast Guard has been helping rescue efforts around Duluth. The agency says it used a helicopter to pluck five people from waters raging through the town of Thomson on the St. Louis River last night. A Coast Guard airboat helped rescue another 12 people in Fond du Lac.

• Click here to see photos of the flooding

Farther south, some neighborhoods in the town of Moose Lake are reachable only by boat. Dozens of homes, a high school, a campground and a sewer station have been swamped. Volunteers have been filling sandbags, but flood waters are still rising.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is closing three locks in the Twin Cities to recreational boats because of rising water on the Mississippi River. The Corp says it expects to close the locks to commercial traffic as well.