By ELI By
LUTGENS
Publisher/Editor
Flooding that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has described as "catastrophic" has taken over much of the state, leaving "entire communities under feet of water."
Officials in Waterville said their area is experiencing the worst flooding in its history and that the Minnesota National Guard has been activated to assist with alleviation efforts. Walz declared a peacetime emergency for the state over the weekend, which allowed the National Guard to deploy.
"Across the state, intense rain has had catastrophic effects. Flooding has left entire communities under feet of water, causing severe damage to property and numerous road closures," Walz said.
The emergency proclamation mentions that Waterville, which is wedged between Tetonka Lake and Sakatah Lake in Le Sueur County, received between 14 and 18 inches of rainfall, pushing those lakes and the Cannon River to "uncontrollable levels."
"Residents have been evacuated and the flood has already caused significant damage," the proclamation, issued on Saturday, says.
"It's all hands on deck here in Waterville. The water continues to rise and officials say they don't know when it's going to stop," CBS News Minnesota's Jason Rantala reported on Sunday.
"We just have too much water," Le Sueur County Commissioner David Preisler said.
Locals have been posting countless photos and videos of the damage on social media. One resident said on Sunday evening that "hundreds of cabins and homes" have been flooded, along with most of the downtown area. At his home, he said there were about 18 inches of water in the shed and around the cabin.
"The water is 3-plus feet deep in some places," stated one witness on Facebook. "Several roads in town are impassable and they have the fire department limiting access in many places."
Officials have called this the worst flooding event ever to hit Waterville as 1,000 people volunteered to fill sandbags over the weekend to try and prevent even worse damage.
The National Weather Service predicts the weather contributing to the flooding across Minnesota may not be over yet, with the possibility of severe storms still appearing in forecasts across the week. Local river levels are also still rising and flooding continues to be a concern, forecasters said.
New Richland Area
Over the weekend, more than 4 inches of rain fell across Waseca County, with totals as high as 7 inches in Janesville.
Damage in New Richland seems to be minimal compared to past flooding issues. The Care Center is safe; the baseball fields in town were still underwater on Monday. Some trees have fallen across power lines, leaving some residents in New Richland without power for several hours Saturday.
A state of emergency was declared in New Richland on Saturday. According to city administrator Anthony Martens, the main purpose of this proclamation is to make the city eligible for reimbursement for damages sustained during the storm. Examples of damage include landscaping in the city park and damage to the fences and the concession stand at Legion Field.
Martens dubbed People Service manager Shell Johnson a “rockstar,” saying “She kept a lot of water out of a lot of basements. She does a phenomenal job.
“I don’t think she slept more than 5 hours in the past 48 hours,” Martens told the Star Eagle Monday morning.
Shell Johnson, 54, has been the People Service Manager running New Richland’s wastewater treatment facility for the past three years.
Johnson’s non-stop weekend began Friday morning, when overwhelming quantities of water forced the facility to limit the processing water received before being released into its normal outlet of Boot creek.
“It isn’t possible to handle that much water,” Johnson said. “At the height of it, 5 million gallons were going through.”
Johnson explains many checks and balances are in place for emergency protocols used over the weekend. She also said the water still runs through the preliminary building garbage catcher before passing through to the creek.
Another emergency action was the use of pumps placed on Broadway at 2:30 a.m. Saturday. Two three-inch pumps were used to transfer water from storm sewers directly into Boot Creek. Doing so helped prevent stormwater from infiltrating the city sewage system and possibly creating a sewer back-up.
“The system gets more and more full; pretty soon [stormwater] can’t go anywhere,” Johnson explained. “We caught it in time and pumped it out in time.”
Johnson said she was extremely grateful for the help of local residents and city staff.
“They would drive by and bring water and snacks,” she said. “They were all so nice and helpful.”
Johnson spent the weekend sleeping in her office on a pullout cot and in her truck. Every 45 minutes she would have to wake up to put gas in the pumps on Broadway.
“Scott, the maintenance man from the school, brought me coffee at 3 a.m,” Johnson said.
“Others, even Bob (the director of the care center) and Anthony (the city administrator), city staff Braeden Thompson and maintenance man Erik Hendrickson all took turns watching the pumps so I could go check on the plant and do my paperwork.
“I don’t want the flooding,” she said. “We’re lucky we’re not in the predicaments these other cities are facing.”
Rapidan Dam
In Blue Earth County, as of Monday evening, the Rapidan Dam in the Blue Earth River southwest of Mankato was in an ‘imminent failure condition.”
The Blue Earth County Sheriff's Office said the river has cut a new path around one side of the dam and debris has been accumulating in the water. It announced the "imminent failure condition" status and notified those who may be impacted.
"We do not know if it will totally fail or if it will remain in place, however we determined it was necessary to issue this notification to advise downstream residents and the correct regulatory agencies and other local agencies," the sheriff's office said.
By Monday afternoon, the sheriff's office reported a "partial failure" of the dam on the west abutment.
"The dam is still intact and there are no current plans for a mass evacuation," the sheriff said on Facebook. "A portion of the river flow has diverted around the west side of the dam and water continues to flow."
An Xcel Energy substation at the dam, which supplies power to about 600 customers, was washed away early Monday. The utility company said its crews were working to replace the destroyed substation and restore power.
"The river level was already high from the large amounts of recent rainfall and moving fast when it diverted around the dam near the substation and flowed onto the bank," the company said in a statement. A home on the bank is at risk as shoreline continues to wash away.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz related at a news conference Monday morning that the state has received roughly 18 inches of rain over the last few weeks, saturating the ground and leaving the water nowhere else to go. There is potentially more rain coming, he added.
