BISMARCK (AP) -- William Keller Sr. worried for weeks that record snowfall would bring a devastating flood to his hometown of Beulah, where he lived most of his 79 years.
"We thought it was an overreaction," said JoAnn Keller, his daughter-in-law. "But he was right."
On March 27, and 10 minutes after floodwaters forced him from his home in the central North Dakota town, Keller died of a heart attack, his daughter-in-law said.
"Grandpa Bill died protecting his home and worrying about the people of Beulah," Keller said. "We definitely think he was a victim of the flood."
The state Health Department says the deaths of two people in central and western North Dakota are related to flooding this spring. The department will not confirm the victims' names or locations, except to say one was a man and one was a woman, and that both were older than 60.
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Minnesota officials have reported no flood-related deaths.
State Epidemiologist Kirby Kruger said the woman who died in North Dakota was more than 60 years old and died from a heart attack related to "flood prevention exertion."
"She was sandbagging," he said.
Neither of the deaths were of residents of the Red River Valley, in eastern North Dakota, where Fargo residents fought the river, Kruger said.
Fifty flood-related injuries have been reported statewide, from wrist and ankle stress to vehicle crashes from washed out roads, he said.
The numbers come from hospital reports around the state.
Kruger said people -- especially the elderly -- should get checked out by a doctor before sandbagging or other flood fighting activities. But he acknowledged that consulting with a doctor "is a difficult message in a time of crisis when people are trying to save property."
A family of four in the Fargo area suffered carbon monoxide poisoning from a generator that had been placed too close to their home, Kruger said. The family was treated at a Fargo hospital and released, he said.
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Kruger said the Health Department got one report of gastrointestinal illness and a few mental health issues from anxiety and stress.
Keller believes stress is what caused the death of her father-in-law. She said he had helped fill a few sandbags in town but mostly was "directing" the effort.
William Keller was active and fit, and routinely shoveled snow from all sidewalks on his block, his daughter-in-law said. But he was "stressed out and fragile" because of the flood, she said.
Mercer County emergency manager Richard Sorenson said the flooded Knife River damaged about 80 homes in the county, most of them in Beulah. William Keller's home was among those destroyed, his daughter-in-law said.
JoAnn Keller said her father-in-law left the home at the urging of family members when water began filling his basement. He grabbed his beloved dog, Mia, and drove his old pickup to his daughter's home in town, where he collapsed as soon as he arrived, she said.
"He had never had to leave that home before," JoAnn Keller said.
Sorenson said the area still faces more flooding from melting snow.
"It's still a dangerous time," he said. "There is still a lot of snowpack."
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Dozens of people in Beulah, a town of about 3,200 people northwest of Bismarck, have been displaced by the flood, Sorenson said.
"When people start going back to their homes for cleanup and to inspect the damage, I think that's when the real stress will come," he said.
