Preparing For Floods in St. Louis County
DULUTH, MNN. — Four public agencies from St Louis County held a news conference on Wednesday to talk about the spring snow melt and spring flooding. The agencies explained what they have planned and already done to prepare for any flooding that may occur.
The warm weather over the past couple of days has greatly reduced the snowpack in the area. But there is still a lot of liquid in the remaining snow. Katzel Leven of the National Weather Service says, “There are 4 to 8 inches of snow water equivalent and 9 to 14 inches of liquid in the snow pack in the higher terrain of the north and south shores.“
Levens also passed on some positive news, “Due to a fairly warm winter, we have little to no frost in the ground across St. Louis County and across much of the northland as a whole. This will allow soils and trees and plants to soak up some of the meltwater but this soil will eventually become saturated and unable to take up any additional water, especially if the melt is 24 hours like we have been experiencing.
The sheriff’s office has been tracking closed roads in the county and there have been just a couple so far this spring. Going forward it is planned that the sheriff’s office will post all the closed roads on its site. The sheriff’s office also needs the public’s assistance in knowing where a road is covered with water.
St. Louis County Undersheriff Jason Akerson says, “If you do as a motorist come across these conditions (roads covered with water) where we urge you to call 911 and report them. As dispatchers, we can get the necessary resources out there to assess the situation and decide if there’s immediate action that needs to be taken – such as marking them with road closed signs or get public works out there to fix roads or whatever you have.”
The St Louis County Emergency Operations Manager, Dewey Johnson says work is already underway if more serious flooding occurs in the county. “We are working with the Federal Prison Camp in Duluth and also the Northeast Regional Corrections Center,” said Johnson. “They are currently having inmates fill sandbags for us. We delivered a few loads of sand to the federal prison camp and 10,000 bags and they’re actively filling bags and palletizing them.”
“If you live anywhere near water, whether it be a lake or a river or a creek, make sure your kids and your pets stay away from it. They could get in real trouble there. And if you’re driving and see water on the road ahead of you turn around, don’t drown, and be safe.
