Rivers rising

Minnesota to

crest Tuesday at 800 feet; 805 is danger level

By RON LARSEN

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- Just when you may have thought the flood threat was gone, the National Weather Service released a flood forecast Wednesday that calls for both the Minnesota and the Cottonwood rivers to exceed flood stage by the weekend.

The Minnesota River is expected to reach flood stage Saturday, at 796.2 feet, and crest at just over 800 feet on Tuesday.

The Cottonwood should top flood stage Sunday morning at 11.8 feet and crest later in the day at 12.0 feet.

"It (the Minnesota) would have to come up another 5 feet before we would get concerned," Street Commissioner Tom Patterson said. "That's because we've determined that 805 is our level of concern."

That's when water would start coming up into the backyards, garages and some basements along Front and Valley streets, Patterson explained. However, all the flood protection berm along Front Street remains, as well as about one-third of the berm on Valley.

Of course, if the NWS rainfall estimates prove to be conservative for the rest of this week, there could easily be a problem.

"We certainly need to keep an eye on rainfall for a while," Patterson said.

NWS blamed the "persistent and heavy rainfall this week" for causing the rivers in southern and southwestern Minnesota to rise precipitously toward flood stage again.

Rainfall amounts ranging 3-4 inches were recorded overnight Tuesday. Amounts ranged from 4.2 inches at Wells to 3.15 inches at Fairmont.

An additional 1-2 inches was forecast for Wednesday and Wednesday night, impacting the Redwood River at Redwood Falls, the Cottonwood at New Ulm and the Minnesota River at most locations, including New Ulm, the NWS reported.

Meanwhile, the city's attention is focused on its public assistance disaster relief request for reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

It appears that New Ulm residents living in the disaster relief will get a break on the cost of installing temporary flood control berms.

"It won't be possible for those residents to apply individually for reimbursement because they don't have any paperwork to support the work done," Patterson said. "As MR Paving & Excavating billed the city for the work done, the residents don't have any receipts like those who sandbagged or built their own berms in the county did."

That means all the expense of building those berms will be included in the city's public assistance reimbursement request.

"Since the city's share is 10 percent, that means it will be up to the city council to decide whether it wants to charge back that portion to the residents," Patterson explained.

That means those residents affected by the flooding would only pay 10 percent of the cost of flood protection on their property -- if the city decides to bill them -- than the 25 percent they would have had required to pay if they were submitting individual assistance reimbursement requests.

For those living out in the county who are going to submit an individual assistance request, Patterson said the street department has a number of copies of a pamphlet titled, "Disaster Assistance Made Easy," that they can pick up at the department office.