Flooding

I wish I could post videos on this blogging platform, but alas I cannot. 

Unless you've been living under a rock in the Mankato area these past few days, you will have heard about the Rapidan Dam in imminent danger of failing from all the rain this area has had this week. So far it's holding steady and my guess is it will continue to hold. 

I was glued to the news all day. Not much new information came out over the course of the day. Basically, emergency responders notified everyone in the flood zone (if the dam would break) and they evacuated. If the dam breaks, it would only raise the river level by 2 ft (from 28ft up to 30ft), which is still much lower than the flood walls in Mankato (rated to 39ft). Problems would occur if debris breaks those walls, but they're built very sturdily so city officials are not anticipating that.

Another sort of positive thing is that water found a way around the dam. Good news: it releases pressure from behind the dam making it less likely for the dam to fail. Bad news: it really erodes the riverbank and has washed away a power station, a shed, trees, and has left a house semi-hanging off the edge.

The dam is about a 20min drive from our house, so after supper last night, G and I (and his parents) took a drive to see the dam for ourselves. At that point it sounded like the dam would hold, there probably wouldn't be as many people out there gawking, and we wouldn't be too much in the way.

The sheriff had blocked off the road a ways away and set up cones to make a pedestrian walkway down to the viewing point. We passed a lot of people leaving and saw a few people coming after us. 

We arrived just after sunset.

Wow. The power of the water. 

G said earlier in the day he had heard someone liken it to Niagara Falls and scoffed. How could anything in Minnesota even come close to that? But seeing it in person... Yep. I can see the resemblance. 

I could tell right away that the water level was lower than what it had been earlier in the day. About 2ft by my estimation. The pile of debris was bigger. Water still gushed around the side of the dam and through it the normal way (not as much as usual because of the debris). 

The majestic, giant tree was still hanging on. Yesterday morning everyone thought it would fall in. Cameramen zoomed in on it often expecting it to pull loose from the dirt. Nope. Not today.

The house that's hanging out over the edge was also still hanging in there. The owners of the Dam Store live there. I wonder how much notice they had to get their stuff out. How awful. Hopefully no more erosion will happen now that the river has cut its path. Maybe they can pick up the house and relocate it farther back.

Lots of local roads are closed due to flooding. G had to take a new way to get to work today. Normally it's a 20min drive. Today it was 40. The street outside the garden center was closed down due to flooding. No customers today! He took the opportunity to get some projects done. 

Major rivers are due to crest overnight/early morning they say. Our next round of rain is expected on Thursday. 

The deer have been merciless this week. Their normal grazing area is flooded so they come up to our place to eat. Last night they ate our planters that are right up next to the house! They must be desperate. Man, we gotta get that deer fence sprayed!