FOX 21 News, KQDS-DT

KNIFE RIVER-If you were driving on Wednesday, you know how difficult it was to find a route that was not flooded.

For the better part of twelve hours, water rushing over Highway 61 disabled most traffic heading in an out of Two Harbors.

In Knife Rive, high watermarks created a new type of tourist attraction.

"We actually got up this morning to go fishing down there and we went down there and it was a disaster. I mean the water's like 15 feet higher than it should have been," tourist Kyle Sumrow said.

"Like five seconds ago I saw a huge log go under [the bridge]," a young tourist named Caleb Porter said. "And then the last part, it was really big but it made it under, and water shot out. It like shot out."

At the storms peak the water was rushing over the Knife River bridge and sending debris slamming into the railing. Neighbors in the surrounding area, however, could not even call for help because the phone lines were down.

"The blue siding on that Knife River Rec center is where the water was at," Sheriff Carey Johnson said, pointing to a small community structure. "And we ended up putting a boat in with the Lake County Rescue Squad and we ended up going to a house."

As a smaller second wave of storms swept through the area, a crew with the U.S. Geological Survey attempted to measure water speed to get a feel if another flash flood warning would need to be issued.

"We're trying to measure the flow of the river. We're trying to get a discharge measurement," Hydrologist Russ Buesing said.

"We've got to resort to an older style of measuring," Buesing said.

Because of the wild current, newer and more sensitive equipment would not do the job, crew members said.

But tourists say although the flow is damaging the sight made for an attraction rivaling Gooseberry Falls.

"Your boat would get dunked under the bridge. Yeah, and you would probably hit your head and get a huge bump," Emma Sumrow and Annelise Hall-Holt said.

"It's incredible to see the force of nature and, like, human beings – we feel like we've got it all under control and you see your bridges get washed away and trees get ripped down and it's just a really amazing thing to see," Kyle Sumrow said.