Rain Causes Mudslides, Road Closures In Winona Co.
WINONA COUNTY, Minn. (WCCO/AP) - Thunderstorms dumped several inches of rain in and around the bluff town of Winona early Saturday morning.
WCCO Weather Watcher Dan Amundson reported eight inches of rain in the area.
Flash flooding washed away part of a road on Bob Dunn's property, and the force took out a walking bridge.
"You can actually see the mud build up. You can drive across there before. I used to have a pretty decent road," Dunn said. "That used to be a bridge, used to have a bridge going right across here."
Dead fish litter Dunn's lawn from where his pond overflowed, and a lot of his land is caked in mud.
"It's kind of a mess," he said.
The bluffs that line State Highway 61 and other nearby county roads took a beating. Heavy rain triggered a handful of mudslides that left roadways partly covered in sludge.
At Cedar Valley Golf Course, course superintendent Todd Drazkowski says the rain overwhelmed a nearby crick. Flooding wiped out two bridges and damaged several others on the course. Only one is still intact.
"Everything funnels, you know, off the hills here. Everything funnels into this crick," Drazkowski said. "It was a mess. Everything was wet, we couldn't drive anywhere. It's going to take, you know, weeks to get back to normal."
A lot of work lies ahead, but folks remember how bad it was in 2007 when flash flooding forced evacuations and destroyed homes. What happened overnight is something they can deal with.
"We live in a valley like this, water coming through. If it rains a lot, that's what happens," Dunn said.
Multiple streets are flooded in Goodview and Winona. Public safety officials say lightning struck a power pole in Winona, which crashed on three buildings and caught fire.
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