River receding after cresting Sunday

Tim Krohn, The Free Press, Mankato, Minn.
Updated ·3 min read

Apr. 24—The Greater Mankato area has escaped any significant flooding problems this spring, as area rivers have just crested and are going down.

"We dodged a bullet," said Henderson Mayor Keith Swenson. "This was kind of a ho-hum flood for Henderson."

The town has gone through several big floods in the recent past, including its worst flood in 2010. They also had serious floods in 2001, 2014 and 2019.

Those floods closed two main roads — Highways 93 and 19 — forcing long detours in and out of town and harming local businesses that rely on weekend visitors from the Twin Cities, Mankato and elsewhere.

This year, 93 reopened a few days ago after being closed for a short time. Highway 19 was closed Friday.

"Highway 19 will probably stay closed for a few days yet," Swenson said.

At Henderson, the Minnesota River crested at 733.8 feet above sea level Monday, which is a couple of feet below where the moderate flood level starts.

The river will be down to 732 by Thursday, which is just below the minor flood range.

With no significant rains forecast for the next week, it's not likely area rivers will jump back up.

The Minnesota River at Mankato peaked Sunday at just below 21 feet, which is below the minor flooding level. By this weekend it should be at 17 feet.

The Minnesota River at New Ulm crested at 805 feet above sea level on Friday and was at 804 feet Monday, just below the moderate flood level.

By the weekend the river should be near 800 feet at New Ulm, bringing it into the minor flood level.

Upriver, where more serious flooding happened late last week, the Minnesota River is slowly going down.

Flood stage at Morton was 21 feet Monday, with the major flood stage at 26 feet. The river level there was 26.46 feet Friday, according to the National Weather Service.

The Minnesota River at Granite Falls and Montevideo also crested late last week, causing some significant flooding, but is now receding.

Near the South Dakota border, where the Minnesota River starts, a steady flow of water continues.

The dams at Big Stone Lake and Marsh Lake, two large bodies that are the start of the Minnesota River, have been opened up to lower the lake levels.

That water flow isn't expected to cause the Minnesota River to jump up in the Mankato region, but it will likely keep the Minnesota River levels fairly steady for a while.

While Henderson has had to put up with being virtually cut off during big floods, a major $25 million project by the Minnesota Department of Transportation will help the community in future big floods.

It's a complicated project that kicked off last year with a contractor actually lowering the elevation of a portion of Highway 19. That will mean the road will still close during bigger floods but the lower level will allow a rebuilt Highway 93 to remain open.

This summer and continuing through much of 2024, work will focus on 3.6 miles of Highway 93 that runs south from Henderson to Highway 169 near Le Sueur. That project will raise Highway 93 by as much as 8 feet, putting it a foot above the 100-year-flood mark.

As designed, the new elevation of Highway 93 should make the road invulnerable to any flood that has struck Henderson in recorded history.