Waseca County staff and the LeSueur River Watershed Network will host a community meeting Tuesday, Feb. 16 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at New Richland City Hall.
Folks are invited to come and listen and share experiences with flooding in New Richland and surrounding areas. Waseca County Commissioner Jim Peterson and Network steering committee members will describe some of the water quality concerns occurring locally and across the LeSueur River Watershed. The meeting is open to the public.
This initial meeting will be to start gathering information on flood extent and impacted areas as well as provide an opportunity for the community to voice what they believe priorities should be when evaluating mitigation options. The community meeting will kick off with the Network’s citizen leaders describing their history working with the LeSueur River Watershed. Then, Commissioner Peterson will discuss the history and concerns raised to him about impacts to infrastructure and residents in the surrounding area. Following, there will be an opportunity to share your story and ideas on what needs to be done moving forward to mitigate some of the flooding impacts. At the end of the meeting, participants will have time for informal discussions with county staff to discuss ideas and get to know one another.Peterson approached Waseca County staff in July of 2015 to raise concerns about New Richland flooding. In 2010, New Richland experienced a 100-year precipitation event, something expected to happen only once every 100 years. Then in June of 2015, roughly three inches of rain fell in three hours, classified as a 10-year precipitation event for New Richland. Changing precipitation patterns will cause extreme storm events to take place more frequently and continue to adversely impact infrastructure.
“Businesses including Trapper’s Lanes, Morgan’s Meat Market, Midwest Repairables, Thompson Auto Body, New Richland Auto and the New Richland Care Center were all devastated by the 2010 flood,” said Peterson. “At this time, the flooding extent was so great, it nearly reached the
public school. With increases in storm severities becoming more of the norm, the community is on edge about the likelihood about this happening to them once again. We need to work together to do something to solve the issue.
The event is free and open to anyone interested.
For more information contact the Waseca County Planning and Zoning office at (507) 835-0615 or the LeSueur River Watershed Network at (507) 389-2704. Brochures are available at www.co.waseca.mn.us.