'It Was Just The Weirdest Hour': Flash Flooding Takes Minneapolis Drivers By Surprise

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Whether you watched it from your office, got stuck in it while driving, or heard cellphone alerts blaring -- Twin Cities residents weathered another heavy downpour Tuesday.

Drivers sailed down streets that looked more like rivers in Minneapolis. In other neighborhoods, waves crashed into sidewalks, and cars sat in floodwater virtually up to their windows.

Near West 22nd Street and Garfield Avenue South in Minneapolis, it looks as though several drivers had trouble parallel parking recently -- with their rear wheels up over the curb. But don't blame them. Blame it on the rain.

"There was a car floating here in the intersection right here, and all these cars all the way up the road are like floating and flooded," said Bryce Sprosty of Minneapolis.

The sudden and immense rush of rain turned the block into a waist-deep pond. Pavement and yards disappeared, with only the tops of vehicles above water.

"I'd never seen anything like it before. I went to look outside and I heard car alarms going off and I saw firefighters sectioning off our street," said Katelyn Reid of Minneapolis.

Reid says she watched people in swimming trunks wading out to their flooded cars. Meanwhile, drivers near Dean Parkway were simply waiting to get down the road since officers blocked it off.

"Can't go to my normal parking spot in my parking garage. Not really sure what the solution is here," said Matt Ostro of Minneapolis.

Owning a Jeep Wrangler was helpful for this driver, but others had no choice but to sit tight until the water slowly drained away.

"All of sudden, maybe 30 minutes after that, it was completely gone, and the sun was out, so it was just the weirdest hour," Reid said.

And a potentially expensive one for those whose vehicles might need repairs after an impromptu float trip along Garfield Avenue South.

WCCO-TV Meteorologist Chris Shaffer says more storms are expected in the Twin Cities Wednesday evening, but it is not clear if it will pose another flash-flood threat.