Latest round of flooding rivals 2019 status in Mitchell

Jun. 25—MITCHELL — For some, it surely felt all too familiar.

Just five years after Mitchell was hit with endless rainfall and flash flooding conditions in the city and on the nearby Firesteel Creek and James River, the high water was back again, this time in June.

The two sets of storms had plenty of parallels, although the 2024 precipitation arrived after what has been a relatively dry last 12 months, with Mitchell receiving 23.77 inches of rain over the previous 12 months prior to a historically wet June.

Flooding collected around Havens Avenue and Dry Run Creek in the central part of the city, much like it did in 2019. The 2024 storm also impacted the Ohlman Street area on the west side of Mitchell and neighborhoods around the Davison County Public Safety Center. Like in 2019, there was flash flooding on Main Street during the heaviest rainfall, as well.

In 2019, Interstate 90 was closed between Mitchell and Sioux Falls due to extensive flooding for multiple days, particularly in the Bridgewater area. This time around, the I-90 closures were limited to only a handful of hours during the worst of the strong rainfall.

Mitchell made a number of stormwater improvements in the city in between the 2019 and 2024 storms. In 2021 and 2022, the city constructed upgrades to the East Central Drainage project in the city at a cost of $3.7 million which was meant to improve drainage near businesses in the East Hackberry Avenue and South Kimball Street area which were impacted in 2019. Some of those same businesses were hit again by flooding with this most recent storm.

The 2019 storm was designated as a major disaster with the Federal Emergency Management Association in South Dakota, affecting 19 counties and the Flandreau Santee and Yankton Sioux Indian Reservations. That storm, from Sept. 9-26, affected 460 residences in 19 counties, including 17 that were destroyed and 232 that suffered major damage. The amount of individual assistance and public assistance cost estimate was both estimated in excess of $8 million in each category.

The James River has also been a point of comparison between the two storms. In 2019, the James River jumped more than 6 feet in flood stage to a top mark of 25.05 feet, the fourth-highest crest level on record, according to the U.S. Geological Survey monitor on the river at Mitchell. In the 2024 storm, the current high-water crest is 23.65 feet, which would be sixth-highest in gauge history if the forecasts are correct.

The local record is 25.33 feet for the James River at Mitchell USGS monitor on the river, set on April 11, 2001.

Looking back to 2019, the area's highest measured rain total was 9.49 inches over a two-day span just west of Mitchell, while other locations in Mitchell recorded totals between 7 and 8 inches. The official 2019 two-day rainfall total was 7.09 inches at the Mitchell Regional Airport.

A record two-day mark arrived with the June 2024 storm, with 7.7 inches at the airport, the most in city history, dating back to 1893. Over three days, 7.9 inches of rain was recorded at the airport, while some weather reports from around Mitchell and the region included 8 or more inches of rain. At the Mitchell airport, the city received 8.99 inches in a six-day span from June 17-22.

By this point in a normal June, Mitchell receives fewer than 3 inches of rain, but the Palace City has now received 10.07 inches of rain this month. That's the most on record for any month in the last 25 years, surpassing the 9.98 inches of rain received in June 2010.

Counting June 2024, Mitchell has now had four months since 2000 with 7 inches of rain or more and three of those have been in June, with 7.23 inches recorded in June 2005, 7.63 inches of rain in June 2010. (The 9.98 inches in September 2019 was the other 7-plus-inch month of rainfall.)

In 2019, Mitchell received 36.47 inches of rainfall for the year, the most in the city's history. That was deemed the wettest year in South Dakota history in 125 years of record-keeping, according to South Dakota State University Extension.

According to the NWS office in Sioux Falls, Mitchell already has logged its second-wettest June on record with 10.07 inches of rainfall. Only June 1984 has had more rainfall in Mitchell, recording 11.11 inches of rainfall 40 years ago.

For the year, Mitchell has received 18.15 inches of rain for 2024 so far, more than 8 inches ahead of normal at this time of year.