Mississippi Expected To Crest At Aitkin Thursday
AITKIN, Minn. (AP) -- The mayor of Aitkin says the city is well prepared for the Mississippi River to crest more than six feet above flood stage Thursday.
Mayor Gary Tibbitts says the sewage plant and power transfer station have been sandbagged. Emergency pumps are on standby and the dike around the city is holding.
He says some roads in the community of 2,000 remain closed and some farm homes on the outskirts of the city are virtual islands with hay fields under water.
The mayor says flooding could have been worse if not for a diversion channel just outside the city built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Tibbitts says the National Weather Service expects the river to crest at 18.5 feet Thursday.
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