Flood warnings were extended once again as lakes and rivers continued to rise in the Mankato area following a two-day rainfall that poured as much as 8 inches on an already-soaked region.
The Minnesota River is now predicted to crest Tuesday morning just shy of an all-time record, as attention is now focused on the Rapidan Dam being breached and sending more water down the Blue Earth River to Mankato and beyond.
The Minnesota River at Mankato was approaching 29 feet Monday and is now predicted to hit 29.7 feet Tuesday afternoon. That would be just short of the record 30.1 feet the river hit in 1993.
The floodwalls protecting Mankato-North Mankato are built for a height of 39.5 feet.
At New Ulm the river crested Monday morning at 802.6 feet above sea level. That is 2 feet short of the 10th highest river level recorded in New Ulm and well short of the record level of 811.3 feet record in 1997.
In Henderson, the Minnesota River is to crest at 740.1 feet above sea level on Wednesday. That would set an all-time record, just passing the 740.08 level set in October of 2010.
Officials tour river sites
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar and 1st District Congressman Brad Finstad toured parts of the Minnesota River and addressed the condition of Rapidan Dam during a press conference Monday at Sibley Park.
“It’s clear the people of Mankato, the people of southern Minnesota and really our entire state … are really focused on doing everything they can to save their homes and their businesses,” Klobuchar said in response to water damage across the region.
Klobuchar. a Democrat, said she and Finstad, a Republican, are asking counties to keep track of damage costs.
“If the state has about $10.5 million in damage, which it looks like we are meeting, then 75% of the public infrastructure recovery gets paid for with federal funds. That’s a big relief for the state. The other 25% gets paid for by the state,” she said.
Finstad said the area was prepared for a situation like this.
“I just have to start off by thanking all of the great neighbors of southern Minnesota. This is an example of what makes us so great,” he said.
“We have some of the best professionals serving us. They have put months and years of plans in place for an event like this, and then when this does happen, just to see their steady hand, they’re calm, cool presence and the ability of them to really just kind of dig in and make sure we can recover. Really that’s what we’re in right now is trying to figure out how do we recover from this.”
Klobuchar also addressed Rapidan Dam’s status as being in an “imminent failure condition,” as described by Blue Earth County emergency officials.
“The dam here has gotten not just statewide but national attention as it was so dramatic. For now, it’s holding, and we just hope and pray that that will continue with the work of the good people protecting it,” she said.
Authorities issued an alert Monday saying the dam was in “imminent failure condition” after intense pressure from days of rain and collected debris. A segment of the dam breached and the water redirected itself.
Mankato Public Works Director Jeff Johnson said his team is working with the National Weather Service to prepare for rising water levels.
“We and our team have worked with the NWS on modeling some potential rainstorms and what that might look like as well as the effects of the Rapidan Dam,” he said. “We’re pretty confident that the plans that we have in place will be effective. Our major goal with all of this and the entire levy and flood control system is number one public safety, and number two, confidence in the public that we’re doing the right thing.”
Sandbag after sandbag
Major sandbagging efforts were underway all weekend in St. Clair and Waterville as federal officials toured struggling communities.
Klobuchar, who visited Waterville with Sen. Tina Smith and Rep. Angie Craig, was struck by both the amount of water inundating the city and the effort being put forth to keep it at bay.
“They’ve now moved 70,000 sandbags — all these volunteers,” Klobuchar told The Free Press Sunday afternoon. “It was just such a show of community spirit.”
The battle that’s been underway since Thursday in Waterville came to St. Clair on Sunday. City officials announced Saturday that they were piling sand near a vulnerable neighborhood adjacent to the Le Sueur River in case anyone wanted to do sandbagging as the river began to swell.
“With the additional rainfall there is concern the river will continue to rise and out of precaution the city is providing sand and sandbags to this area for residents to have access to. Bring your own shovel. Please be neighborly and help as you can! We will continue to monitor the rising river.”
The situation was more dire by Sunday morning, but people responded when an urgent call for volunteers was issued.
“What a turnout!!” city officials proclaimed later on Sunday. “Thank you to everyone who showed up to help their neighbors!! What a team effort!! Thank you!!”
In Mankato, the focus is on the Minnesota River. If the forecasts are correct, the current flood would trail only the 29.9 feet of April 1881 and the 30.11 feet reached on June 21, 1993.
Mankato’s extensive flood-control system, built in the decades following the historic flooding in the 1950s and 1960s, made for a comparatively quiet Sunday compared to what was happening in some neighboring communities. But the high water was enough to close two more city parks — Kiwanis Recreation Area on the city’s northern edge and Mni Wašté.
Mankato city staff were closely monitoring the flood walls and levees. They also continued to compile information on the damage from the flash flooding that closed streets, swamped lower levels of parking garages and sent water streaming through countless basements on Friday.
The damage and potential damage in Waterville were worse with multiple homes already flooded. The Waterville Chamber of Commerce announced on its Facebook page Sunday night that The Village, a former nursing home now operating as a nonprofit event center, was housing residents displaced from their homes by the flooding and was seeking food donations.
Gov. Tim Walz declared a peacetime state of emergency Saturday night and authorized assistance for the town of 1,753 after the Le Sueur County sheriff requested logistics and operations support from the National Guard.
The announcement from the governor’s office stated: “In Le Sueur County, the City of Waterville and surrounding community have experienced approximately 14-18 inches of rainfall. In lakes Tetonka and Sakatah, and the Cannon River, water has reached uncontrollable levels. Residents have been evacuated and the flood has already caused significant damage.”
The federal lawmakers also visited flood-threatened areas in Carver and Northfield Sunday after touring northern Minnesota counties that were hit with torrential rains earlier in the week.
Klobuchar asked Minnesotans to take seriously the advice of public safety officials, noting a report by Waterville’s police chief of a driver attempting to plow through a flooded street.
“He’s OK, but he lost his vehicle,” she said.
Mostly, though, Klobuchar saw a spirit of teamwork and perseverance in the people of Waterville and in the outsiders assisting them Sunday.
“It helps it’s not raining today,” she said of the positive mood in the community.
That was a widespread opinion across Minnesota, particularly the southern third. Saturday brought a discouraging additional ½ inch to 1 inch of rain for most of the region.
For the period starting late Thursday through Saturday afternoon when the skies finally began to clear, amateur weather stations had total rainfalls ranging from as little as 3.64 inches in St. Peter to 6.37 in Waterville to 7.6 in Eagle Lake to 7.82 just southeast of Mankato to 8.84 three miles south of Mankato.
Exhausted southern Minnesotans needed to continue keeping an eye on the forecast, particularly late Monday and Thursday. The National Weather Service in Chanhassen reported Sunday in a forecast discussion that complex conditions were shaping up to create a “boom or bust” weather event late Monday night. The most likely scenario would mostly spare southern Minnesota from additional large storms.
The “slightly less favored but still possible scenario” could offer a much harsher outcome late Monday and into Tuesday morning: “If this were to happen, we could be in for a round of storms, possibly strong, before they taper out by late morning.”
A larger weather system arriving late Thursday into Friday “may threaten to produce additional rounds of heavy rain,” the forecast discussion stated.