FARGO (AP) - With rain in the forecast, Gov. John Hoeven and officials in the Red River Valley issued emergency declarations Thursday to help the area prepare for spring flooding.

The designation will help activate resources and pave the way for disaster aid if it is needed, they said.

Hoeven and state Homeland Security director Greg Wilz met with officials in Fargo, Grand Forks and Wahpeton to discuss flood planning. Hoeven said the emergency declaration was to make sure agencies are ready to respond if necessary.

"I don't think we're looking at anything close to the 1997 levels," Wilz said, referring to the year the river forced most residents of Grand Forks to evacuate and caused heavy damage throughout the valley.

"But in terms of having the potential to inundate some critical infrastructure and certainly cause some evacuations in isolated areas, this is real," Wilz said.

Fargo Mayor Bruce Furness said the speed of the snowmelt surprised some people. The city's public works director, Dennis Walaker, said Thursday the Red River was rising about 3 feet in the city every 24 hours.

The latest forecast from the National Weather Service said the Red is projected to reach 36 feet in Fargo early next week. Flood stage in the city is 18 feet, and the river had reached 20 feet late Thursday afternoon.

Officials said about 15 homes in the city are at risk, given the latest forecast.

"I want to emphasize that it's not a real critical situation at this point, but it is one that we have concern about," Furness said. "We've ordered sand, we've ordered pumps to do the pumping that we don't have ourselves."

Forecasters said the area could get up to an inch of rain Friday, with heavier thunderstorms in some areas. City officials were setting up an emergency operations center and asking the Army Corps of Engineers to help with a temporary levee downtown.

The weather service also warned of flooding in the Wahpeton area, along the Sheyenne River near Kindred, and in small streams in Cass County.

Cass County officials also declared an emergency, allowing them to use a $500,000 emergency fund, Commissioner Vern Bennett said. The county engineer was preparing a map of areas with the highest risk of flooding, where residents would be eligible for sandbags, he said.

The state Transportation Department said one road in Casselton, known as old Highway 10, was closed due to flooding Thursday.

Fargo Parks Director Roger Gress said he expects the Mickelson softball complex and adjoining Jack Williams Baseball Stadium to flood over the weekend, so officials plan to start the process from the inside.

Gress said storm drains would be opened, allowing river water to flood the softball and baseball fields. He said the plan is similar to filling basements with water to prevent walls from caving in when flooding hits.

"The city said it will fill (the baseball parks) from the inside to equalize things, so you don't get this rushing water over the top and tearing of turf and things like that," Gress said.

Bennett said officials were waiting to see how much rain the area gets in the next couple of days.

"We could handle about an inch of rain," he said. "If it goes beyond an inch, we could be in deeper trouble."

In Minnesota, Gov. Tim Pawlenty said the state is ready to help if flooding occurs in the region. Pawlenty on Thursday activated the State Emergency Operations Center, which will be staffed with employees from the Department of Public Safety's Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

North central North Dakota was under a snow advisory Thursday night, with 3 inches or more of heavy, wet snow expected, the weather service said.