Brownton starts sandbagging

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

BROWNTON -- The Brownton Fire Department was busy Sunday afternoon sandbagging in order to prevent the surging Buffalo Creek from damaging the community this week.

Division Street, which runs from State Highway 15 into town was closed Sunday as floodwaters covered it.

"Most of the sandbagging was preventative," Brownton Fire Chief Jim Todd said. "Even without rain we are supposed to get a foot and one-half rise in the creek this week, which would put us over flood stage."

Fire fighters laid sandbags on the north side of town around several residences and around the town's cable television property, southwest of town.

If it doesn't rain did week, the efforts should suffice, according to Todd.

High school students will have the option of filling sandbags for a couple hours Monday, according to Todd.

Sandbagging is not an uncommon thing to do in Brownton. Todd appreciates doing it in agreeable weather.

"We have some parts of town that flood every spring," Todd said. "It doesn't take that much for us to go over flood stage. It's just nice to be able to do it without rain running down the back of your neck."

Buffalo Creek is also threatening the south side of Glencoe, according to the McLeod County Sheriff's Department.

The weather holds lots of cards. There is the possibility of significant precipitation in the form of rain and even snow in parts of central and southern Minnesota Wednesday and Wednesday night.

The public is advised to listen to weather forecasts this week, according to the National Weather Service.

It is important to remember that flowing water on flooded roads can be dangerous.

The Cottonwood River at New Ulm is the only river measured by the National Weather Service that is receding.

It fell .10 of a foot between Saturday and Sunday. The river is still nearly three feet over flood stage but is expected continue to go down as the week goes on.

Meanwhile, authorities continue to search for five and eight-year-old boys believed to have fallen through ice into a ditch last Thursday night in Olivia.

Searchers have been walking along a drainage ditch filled with fast-moving water where Mark Morales, 5, and Abel Torres, 8, apparently fell.

Footprints were found leading to a collapsed snow bridge over the ditch, according to the Associated Press.

The 16-foot-deep and 40-feet wide ditch drains into the Minnesota River but obstructions would have prevented the boys from reaching the river, according to Olivia Police Chief Don Davern.

National Weather Service hydrologist Gary McDevitt said Sunday was the first time in 18 years that all forecast points were above flood stage.

Flooding is expected to hit the Twin Cities later this week or next. Highway 41 in Chaska and 101 in Shakopee are expected to be closed sometime today.