Enflamed railcars carrying hazardous material were mostly extinguished Saturday, a day after they derailed in a remote area of North Dakota.

Officials said Friday no one had been hurt. The threat to those living nearby remained low, according to county emergency management, which reported no air contamination in the area or downwind.

Twenty-nine cars of a CPKC train derailed around 3:45 a.m. in a marshy area surrounded by farmland that is about 140 miles (225 kilometers) northwest of Fargo, county emergency management director Andrew Kirking said.

Kirking said in a statement Saturday that the fire would still occasionally flare up as responders moved railcars from the tracks. But “firefighting operations through the night and morning have been incredibly successful,” he said.

Emergency officials now say the contents of the derailed cars included anhydrous ammonia, methanol and plastic pellets.

Bill Suess, spill investigation program manager for the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality, identified ammonia as a potential risk, but wind was carrying the smoke away from the nearby town of Bordulac, which has about 20 residents.

“Wind has been in our favor on this,” Suess said Friday.

Exposure to high concentrations of ammonia in the air can cause burning of the eyes, nose, throat and respiratory tract, and can result in blindness, lung damage or death, health officials say. Exposure to lower amounts can result in coughing and irritation of the nose and throat.

CPKC said in a statement Friday that it has “initiated its emergency response plan and launched a comprehensive, coordinated response.”

The railroad was the result of a merger last year of Canadian Pacific Railway and Kansas City Southern.

The National Transportation Safety Board said Friday that it is investigating.

Emergency management officials have shifted their focus from flooding in South Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska to further south on the Missouri River, where more rain this week brought predictions of second crests.

Flood concerns were being felt as far south as St. Louis as the Missouri River continues to carry runoff from record-setting storms in South Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska, combined with more recent rains over Missouri. In response, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers cut back water releases from the dam system it manages in the Dakotas.

“In response to the rainfall, the releases from Fort Randall and Gavins Point dams were reduced,” said John Remus, chief of the Missouri River Basin Water Management Division. “The lower releases were able to reduce downstream river stages, but they could not completely offset all of the flooding in the Sioux City area.”

This year’s waves of precipitation, while damaging to many in southeastern South Dakota, have had some positives. All of eastern South Dakota has escaped drought conditions that had gripped parts of the state for years, according to the latest report from the U.S. Drought Monitor.

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LINCOLN, Neb. (Dakota News Now) – Jabari Henry smacked a two-run homerun and became the franchise all-time leader in doubles as the Canaries fell to Lincoln 4-2 at Haymarket Park.

Henry’s 94th career double came in the third inning and broke a tie with Trevor Lawhorn for the most in a Canaries uniform. The Saltdogs opened the scoring with a two-run double in the fourth inning before adding a solo shot in the fifth.

The 3-0 lead held until the top of the eighth when Henry’s round-tripper brought the Canaries within a run. But Lincoln added a solo homerun in the home half and turned the Birds away scoreless in the ninth.

Henry led the offense with two hits as Sioux Falls dips to 30-19 overall. The two teams resume their series Saturday at 6:05pm.

Recap courtesy of Sioux Falls Canaries.

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