U.S. Army Corps Prepare For Mississippi River Flooding
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - Record high water on the Mississippi River could bring winter flooding to parts of Minnesota.
Officials with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' St. Paul district say the Mississippi is running much faster and higher than normal for this time of year. They say there are two things to blame: record precipitation from 2019 and this season's wild temperature swings.
The swings in temperatures this winter hasn't given the ice proper time to form a thick solid layer, and ice chunks are breaking off and forming dams in the river, causing water to spill out over the banks.
The areas at greatest risk right now are in Winona and Clayton County, Iowa.
Crews from the Corp's St. Paul District will be going out in the next week to meet with city and local officials to talk about river levels and flooding precautions.
"That's kind of what we do in preparation," the district's emergency manager Phil White said. "So I can understand how to get the resources my organization and the federal government can bring to help the local entities."
The severity of the flooding will likely depend on how much snow we get in the coming months.