Rivers up, flooding sweeps Minnesota

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

CHICAGO -- Minnesota was besieged Tuesday by some of its most widespread flooding in years. Water spilled onto streets in downtown St. Paul, crops of soybeans and corn were damaged, and a state of emergency was declared in 35 counties.

The flooding spanned vast regions of the state, from the Canadian border to Iowa. It was the result of an unusually heavy snowpack from winter, combined with torrential rain this spring that had filled lakes and wetlands. A storm that dropped close to 6 inches of rain last week in parts of the state pushed the already swollen Mississippi, Crow and St. Croix rivers to their limits.

"This is severe flooding, and in many different locations in the state, which I haven't seen before," Gov. Mark Dayton on Tuesday. "I've seen severe weather -- tornadoes, flash floods and ice storms -- but usually they impact one area of the state. This one is the whole state."

In St. Paul, the capital, the Mississippi River rose to a nearly 20-foot crest, forcing the closing of some roads. In Stillwater, drivers were diverted from a bridge that links Minnesota and Wisconsin. And in Delano, west of the Twin Cities, businesses close to the Crow River were evacuated. Residents of Waterville in southern Minnesota resorted to sandbags to fight off the Cannon River.

Officials expect the Mississippi River to crest in St. Paul on Thursday at 20.5 feet, the sixth-highest on record.

"It's been quite a historical flood for this area," said Craig Schmidt, a service hydrologist for the National Weather Service. "We've got large, large areas of the state that are underwater. We've had some of our gauges hit record highs."

Weather experts said the flooding arrived unusually late in the year, leaving officials scrambling to control the high water with sandbags, flood walls and makeshift barriers.

Dayton called it "a building emergency" and plans to continue traveling the state this week to visit communities and assess the damage. President Barack Obama is expected to stop in Minnesota on Thursday for an unrelated event, and Dayton said he intends to discuss the crisis with him.

Elsewhere in the Midwest, flooding affected homes and businesses in South Dakota, Missouri and northwest Iowa. Roughly 150 homes in Iowa have sustained major flood damage, officials said. The federal Department of Transportation has pledged $750,000 for the repair of flood-damaged Iowa roads.

The mayor of St. Paul, Chris Coleman, declared a state of emergency there. In Newport, Minn., a small city along the Mississippi River, a sand station was set up so residents could make sandbags for their homes.

Some city officials worried that infrastructure meant to protect cities from storms was hopelessly outdated.

Deb Hill, the city administrator in Newport, said that a levee built more than 50 years ago to protect the town was in "terrible condition," and only 2 feet from being breached.

Even if it is not breached, if the water level in the river stays high, the levee could collapse from the continued pressure, she said.

"Someday it will collapse," she said. "We're preparing for that. Will it go tomorrow or will it go 10 years from now? Everyone's aware that it will go. It's just all anxiety and anticipation."

Vickie Mirenda, an owner of the Peppermint Twist Drive-In in Delano, Minn., said her business was safely across the road from the Crow River but that nearby businesses had shut down temporarily.

Customers could talk of nothing but the flooding and the storms that threatened the region, she said.

"Every time we see a black cloud, we get nervous," Mirenda said. "I don't know where else the water can go. We're praying to keep the rain away."

A Section on 06/25/2014