Twin Cities Residents Dig Out, And Pump Out, After 1-2 Punch Of Rain & Snow
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Communities are shoveling out after a weekend storm unleashed rain and snow across Minnesota and western Wisconsin.
The system made travel dangerous. The Minnesota State Patrol says as of 11 a.m. Sunday morning, nearly 100 cars had crashed. Just as many vehicles went off the road. At least 11 people are hurt.
Sunday night, both Minneapolis and St. Paul have snow emergencies in place.
As the sun rose Sunday over snow and slush, the conditions about everywhere were terrible. Everyone knew this storm was going to screw the roads, and what it left behind will be creating headaches both on the highways and the main streets well into Monday.
But not everyone is upset to see the snow. In Richfield, 11-year-old Caleb is turning white into green.
"I was a little disappointed when it was all raining because I didn't want the season to be over," Caleb said.
He's been turning big storms into big business with his snow removal service. Well, maybe not so big.
"If I had a bigger snow blower, maybe. But this little guy, I think I'm good where I am right now," he said.
And despite having to plow a little more, or drive a little slower, everyone can agree on one thing.
"This is what we have, and you know, you just deal with it," Richfield resident Brad Lindeberg said. "It's just Minnesota."
Nick and Maria Bradley's St. Paul garage is completely flooded Sunday. But that's nothing compared to what's outside it.
"I expected it to fill up a little bit more, but not to this extent," Nick Bradley said. "This is a little bit crazy."
There was plenty of packed, frozen snow in the yard of a home in St. Paul's Macalester-Groveland neighborhood. It sits at a low point, so water comes to rest there. Then Saturday's warm temps and rain made for a frustrating, and time-consuming weekend.
"This entire flooding where it's front to back is totally new. We haven't seen it since owning the house," Nick Bradley said, who is in his second winter living at this house.
WCCO went to the pros at Restoration 1 for help.
"For their situation, sandbags would really help," general manager David Tynes said. "They've got to get stuff to pour around their house. So if they can get sandbags around their house ... it would reduce the flow into their home while they're pumping things into actually the main line."
Tynes has been responding to multiple calls this weekend about water leaking into basements. Tynes says that older homes have more problems, and that gutters and landscaping are the best preventative measures.
He says that older homes have more problems, and that gutters and landscaping are the best preventative measures.
"Those are the two biggest things. Sloping away from the home and having water pushed away from the home. So that when you have snow that's around the home, it drains away," he said. "Now of course gutters work less in the wintertime because it's not that situation. But here, we had rain, so having gutters will help you."
A unique day of weather, producing some new challenges.
"Yeah, really just trying to figure out what to do," Nick Bradley said.
Restoration One says to look for cracks in your basement walls and fill them in before water has the chance to seep in.
The same system that hit southern Minnesota sent tornados spinning through Iowa, killing at least seven people and destroying homes. The worst of the damage happened near Des Moines and in communities to the east.