Quick flood update

Well, though it stopped raining on Thursday, the water in the Minnesota River has continued to rise.   I just got a text message from Gustavus warning me that parts of 169, 99, and 22 are currently closed.   The section on 99 is the bridge which my last few pictures were from on Friday.   The MN department of transportation is reporting the closings.   I’ll include a screenshot of the ones near St. Peter.

Sunday night, 26. Sept 2010, closings around St. Peter due to flooding

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Flooding of the Minnesota River around St. Peter

Yesterday, Anne talked about some her experiences with floods and why that encouraged her to become not only a geologist, but more specifically a hydrogeologist.   I’m not a hydrogeologist.   Its not my thing.   I like rocks.   But currently, I’m living in SE MN and there’s quite a bit of flooding along the Minnesota River, so I’ll take a moment and don my hydro-interest hat.

I drove yesterday (Friday) from Mankato to St. Peter along Highway 169.

GoogleEarth image of Rt 169

The Minnesota River is over its banks and flooding the surround fields, parks, and boat launch sites, but its not as high as when I was here visiting last spring (that closed bridges like 99 at the north end of St. Peter).   However, the water in the floodplain has driven a number of the local deer up into 169, which meant that I drove (and tried to avoid) five dead deer yesterday on the 10-mile drive between Mankato and St. Peter.

I’ll post all of my shots on Flickr (note to self: stopping on 169 is not a great idea since the average driver is doing >65 mph), but two of my favorites:

boat launch on Rt 169

Just south of St. Peter on 169

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