Mississippi River in downtown St. Paul expected to reach major flood stage soon

Frederick Melo, Pioneer Press
·2 min read
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Fed by fresh rain, the Mississippi River in downtown St. Paul was expected to reach the major flood stage of 17 feet on Friday evening, flooding the Clarence W. Wigington Pavilion, picnic tables, parklands and other low-lying areas beneath Water Street nearly to the Harriet Island playground.

The National Weather Service has repeatedly revised forecasts for the river’s crest, with the latest estimates calling for the river waters to plateau by Monday before rising again to peak at 18.8 feet next Friday, April 28. The river would have to surpass 19.02 feet — recorded on March 29, 2011 — to reach a historic top 10 crest level.

In 2014 and 2019, the river surpassed 20 feet downtown, touching the bottom of the swings within the Harriet Island playground. The highest crest ever recorded in downtown St. Paul was 26.01 feet on April 16, 1965.

A winter for the record books brought more than 90 inches of snow followed by rapid melt, previously leading the National Weather Service to predict the Mississippi River to crest around April 17, but the date was repeatedly revised outward given more than an inch of rainfall since Tuesday afternoon.

Both St. Paul and Ramsey County recently declared precautionary flood emergencies, triggering their emergency response authority, coordination with key partners such as the state of Minnesota and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the potential to qualify for federal reimbursement down the line if a federal emergency is declared.

In a lengthy social media thread featuring some 35 photos and videos, St. Paul City Council Member Mitra Jalali on Monday chronicled city flood preparations at Harriet Island, Raspberry Island and the Watergate Marina.

Among precautionary steps, city workers hoisted an elevator from its mechanicals inside the Wigington Pavilion and removed additional machinery from the building. During flooding in 2014, a large, decorative clamshell about the height of a child floated away down the river from the smaller of the two Harriet Island playgrounds. This time, it’s been secured to a nearby tree with a sturdy safety line.

Crews have deployed and extended a temporary flood wall at Holman Field, St. Paul’s downtown municipal airport.

With Childs Road shut down for flooding across the river from the airport, the Metropolitan Council recently constructed a temporary elevated road so essential staff can safely reach its wastewater treatment plant, which sits at one of the lowest points in the Twin Cities. The gravity-fed plant, which treats 75% of the wastewater generated in the seven-county metro, is surrounded by a wall designed to protect it from a 500-year flood.

More information about St. Paul’s flood response is available online at stpaul.gov/flood.

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