State Of Emergency In 35 Minnesota Counties - Flooding Only Getting Worse - NYT

CHICAGO — Minnesota was besieged on Tuesday by some of its most widespread flooding in years. Water spilled onto streets in downtown St. Paul, crops of soybeans and corn were damaged and a state of emergency was declared in 35 counties.

The flooding spanned vast regions of the state, from the Canadian border to Iowa. It was the result of an unusually heavy snowpack from winter, combined with torrential rain this spring and early summer that had filled lakes and wetlands. A major storm that brought close to six inches of rain last week in parts of the state pushed the already swollen Mississippi, Crow and St. Croix Rivers to their limits.

“This is severe flooding, and in many different locations in the state, which I haven’t seen before,” Gov. Mark Dayton said in a telephone interview on Tuesday. “I’ve seen severe weather — tornadoes, flash floods and ice storms — but usually they impact one area of the state. This one is the whole state.”

In St. Paul, the capital, the Mississippi River rose to a nearly 20-foot crest, forcing the closing of some roads. In Stillwater, drivers were diverted from a bridge that links Minnesota and Wisconsin. And in Delano, west of the Twin Cities, businesses close to the Crow River were quickly evacuated. Residents of Waterville in southern Minnesota resorted to sandbags to fight off the Cannon River.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/25/us/much-of-minnesota-is-flooded-as-swollen-rivers-overflow.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=5