It appears that locations along the Mississippi River near Wabasha will dodge the bullet and miss out on any widespread flooding as the river is now reaching its crest right at flood stage.  There will be some localized flooding in low lying areas, but nothing extensive as the river levels are expected to hover at 12 feet and then slowly fall late in the week.  There will be a few chances for some rain this week, but nothing too heavy is expected, so unexpected rises in the river level aren’t foreseen in the short term.

Posted under flooding

Thanks to our wonderful stretch of dry and comfortable weather, the Mississippi River levels have been allowed to drop at a moderate rate in the past week or so and are now just a couple of days away from being below flood stage for our entire viewing area.  Just a few days after the record 6 to 10 inches of rain that fell across southern Minnesota and western Wisconsin in late September, those Mississippi levels were up to 4 feet above flood stage, causing some minor to moderate flooding between the Twin Cities and eastern Iowa, but now those levels are just inches above flood stage.  The current river forecast is calling for those water levels to drop below flood stage by Sunday afternoon and by the end of next week, they’ll be below action stage which means the threat of flooding will be much lower.  The current weather forecast is also favorable for us in that little rain is in the forecast and drier than normal weather is ahead for the next week or two.  We’ll have chances for very light rain on Monday and Tuesday, but this should slow the drop of those Mississippi river levels.

Mississippi River Hydrograph for Wabasha. River levels will be below flood stage this weekend with more improvement ahead next week.

The Mississippi River at Winona is below flood stage and continues to fall.

The Mississippi River level at La Crosse is below flood stage and continues to fall.

Posted under flooding

The Fargo area is now experiencing the worst flooding ever recorded.

The latest river stage now stands at 40.78′ (9:15 p.m. CDT, Friday)…and it’s still rising. The record was 40.1′ set back in 1897. Now the question is…how high will it go? Forecasters are saying it could crest as high as 43′. A scary thought, considering that, according to officials, Fargo’s main dike protects the city to 43′.

The Red River at East Grand Forks is on track to crest close to an all-time record flood stage as well…although it’s (right now) looking like it will come up a bit short, probably some relief for weary residents. The stage was 48.14′ (9:30 p.m. CDT Friday) and it’s forecasted to crest around 52′. The record stage is 54.4′ in 1997.

If you’re curious if that means there’s a wall of water close to 42′ in Fargo…not quite. Read this for the AP wire:

CHANHASSEN, Minn. (AP) — A Red River crest of 43 feet at Fargo, N.D., doesn’t mean the river will be 43 feet deep.
   And dikes built to protect the city to 43 feet aren’t 43 feet high.
   The numbers hydrologists use to measure river levels and flood stages and to predict crest levels are just reference points. Diane Cooper, a National Weather Service hydrologist, says they often put the zero point below the river bed.
   So when officials say Fargo’s dikes are good to 43 feet, it just means they’re at the same height the river would be when it reaches the 43-foot mark at the gauge in Fargo.
   Cooper also says you can’t compare the numbers from one river gauge to another. For example, the Red River was measured at 41 feet in Fargo on Friday afternoon and 48 feet downstream in Grand Forks. That doesn’t mean the water’s deeper in Grand Forks.

We’ll be continuing to follow this…

Posted under Natural Disaster

Yesterday, Steph posted some very useful links for you to find information on rising Red River levels.

Another useful tool for regular updates on the flood is twitter. Search out #fargoflood and #flood09 on twitter and you’ll get some firsthand perspectives from folks on the spot and many various links to photos and information regarding this year’s flood…one that is looking to be record-setting.

You can also follow Steph and I on twitter. Just click on the links on the left sidebar of this blog.

Posted under Natural Disaster