MINOT, N.D. (AP) - The mayor of Minot says water from the Souris river is expected to start pouring over dikes protecting the city within the hour.

Mayor Curt Zimbelman says the city will sound its sirens when water is overtopping the levees at certain points.

Thousands of Minot residents have been facing a 6 p.m. deadline to evacuate their homes for a second time in a month as the rising Souris river moved closer to swamping the city with what is predicted to be its worst flood in four decades.