City of Duluth Responds to Flash Flooding

DULUTH, Minn. — One day after heavy rainfall caused flooding and washed out roads in and around Duluth, officials lined up for a press event, saying the damage couldn’t have been much worse.

Duluth saw flash flooding that it hasn’t seen since the Northland flash flood of 2012.

Since then the city established more flood defense which remained resilient after Sundays rain.

25 locations in St. Louis County received damage which initially look to cost up $150,000 in repairs.

Crews have been assessing damage throughout the day, and are slowly beginning repair to some areas.

“St. Louis County’s infrastructure has sustained some damage in this event, but it’s the kind of damage that can be fixed in days, not weeks or months or years as we saw back in 2012. Oddly this is really a success story that it wasn’t much worse,” said Jim Foldesi, St. Louis County Director of Public Works.

Duluth’s parks and trails continue to be assessed, the city says it will get condition reports as the flooding subsides more.

“Initial reports are that most of the damage seems to be to out trails and some bridges, they are some remote areas that are submerged and as water subsides we’ll have a better opportunity to assess those, but overall it is moderate damage to our parks and trail system and we’re grateful for that,” said Mayor Emily Larson, City of Duluth.

The city expects most of the closed roadways to be opened by the end of the day, except for a few areas that sustained more damage.

The public is encouraged to report flood-damaged roads by calling 911.