Fears of a catastrophic flood in Fargo, North Dakota, are easing.

The National Weather Service says the Red River has apparently crested at lower-than-expected levels.

That's allowing weary residents to turn their attention to ensuring their hastily built levees hold up against an onslaught of ice-laden water expected to stay high for at least a week.

Officials are deploying high-tech Predator drone aircraft, calling up more National Guard troops and asking residents to form neighborhood dike patrols to look for any breaches in levees.

Flooding has forced hundreds of residents in the Fargo area from their homes and submerged basements and ground floors in an untold number of houses along the river. Emergency crews in boats had to rescue 120 people from their homes in one community north of Fargo, while about 20 percent of households in neighboring Moorhead, Minn., have been urged to leave.