The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Local News

March 17, 2010

Walkers to monitor Kato flood walls

Blue Earth County closes some roads

By Robb Murray Free Press Staff Writer

MANKATO — As the Minnesota River approaches flood stage in Mankato, city officials say they’ll begin daily walks along the flood wall to check its structural integrity.

Mark Knoff, Mankato’s director of public works, said city engineers were preparing Wednesday for the daily checks and probably would begin them today.

Knoff said they’ve also closed all but one of the city’s pump stations to prevent rising flood waters from backing up through the city’s storm-sewer system.

The river by Wednesday afternoon was approaching the 20-foot mark. Flood stage is 22 feet. (The city’s flood walls are more than 30 feet high in Mankato and North Mankato.)

Knoff said workers doing the flood-wall walks will be checking for water seepage on the outside, or “dry” side, and for heavy erosion or damage caused by water flow or ice chunks.

Elsewhere, rivers are approaching or exceeding flood stage, but so far there have been no reports of any major damage or any predictions of catastrophic flooding locally.

The Minnesota River at New Ulm, where river levels are measured in feet above sea level, was at 800 feet by Wednesday afternoon. Flood stage there is 796 feet. Also flooding in New Ulm is the Cottonwood River. By Wednesday the level was 13 feet with flood stage at 11 feet.

In St. Peter, the river was at 26 feet. (Flood stage there is not available from the National Weather Service.) And in Henderson the river was just above flood stage, or 732 feet.

Several roads were closed in Blue Earth County, including County Road 157 south of Highway 22, County Road 189 east of County Road 26, County Road 136 at Becker’s Bridge near County Road 10, County Road 151 between County Road 1 and Highway 30, County Road 141 at the loop from Highway 169, and County Road 126 near County Road 34.

Brown County also closed several roads. There were no major road closures announced in Nicollet County.

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