BISMARCK

Forecasters raised Devils Lake’s expected peak level for the second time in a week, bringing the projected level just 2.6 feet short of spillover height.

Tim Heisler, emergency management director for Ramsey County, said the new projections issued Thursday were ‘‘overwhelming.’’

The National Weather Service revised its predicted peak level to between 1,443.5 and 1,444 feet in late June or early July. The new peak level is 1.5 to 2 feet higher than the adjusted increase issued last Friday.

The lake’s present level is 1,438.9 feet above sea level.

Dale Frink, assistant state engineer, said the weather service revised its projections after further analysis of water flowing through the lake’s tributaries.

‘‘There’s very, very large runoffs into those tributaries,’’ he said.

Indications are that about 500,000 acre feet of water will dump into Devils Lake this spring and summer, compared with about 300,000 in 1979, 1993 and 1995, Frink said.

The lake, which has no natural outlet, would begin spilling over east toward Stump Lakes in Nelson County at 1,446.6 feet, he said.

Heisler said it will take about two weeks for water in outlying coulees and streams to make its way to the lake.

If the lake reaches 1,444 feet more homes, roads and rural utilities will be endangered.

‘‘We’re all worried here in Devils Lake about the protective dike that rings the city,’’ he said.

The rapid rise of the lake may not give crews enough time to complete the dike to desired levels, Heisler said. ‘It’s going to be a fight to complete this,’’ he said.

Devils Lake’s previously known record peak was 1,441 feet in 1830, before North Dakota was a state.

Sharon Etemad, executive dean of UND-Lake Region in Devils Lake, mentioned the new, higher level Thursday during a Board of Higher Education meeting in Bismarck.

She was speaking from Devils Lake, where UND-Lake Region has been sheltering Grand Forks flood refugees.

‘‘It’s our practice run for the summer, maybe,’’ Etemad said, prompting some nervous laughs.