Flooding in Henderson

My retreat pictures are coming next but first I thought I'd share a few pictures of the places that the Minnesota River has flowed into where it should not be!!! Those rains from last week filled creeks and streams that flowed into the Minnesota River which flows just to the east end of Main Street in Henderson. Slowly the flood waters have been moving our way. Highways are closed to the north, to the south and to the east due to water over the roads. In the photo below, it may look like a lovely lake. Not so.......

This is the curve in the road at the north end of Henderson. Under that water is Hwy. 6, which is part of the ScenicByway through the Minnesota River Valley. The road is a favorite of motorcyclists who often do fundraising rides along the route. Currently, the only travel on it would be by boat.

In the photo above, you can see the flood gates are in place to hold back the water. This is looking north, and yes, the Minnesota River flows north. Look at a map and you will see that it flows south and then turns and flows north up toward the Twin Cities where it eventually flows into the Mississippi. The flood gates and levee system were installed in the early 1990's because Henderson often suffered from spring flooding.
In the photo below, you are looking east..........

This is the bridge on Hwy. 19, a main route for east to west traffic. The water is above the bottom of the bridge and it is over the road on both sides of the bridge. Last March we had flooding here from the snow melt. It was bad then but this is worse. There was no flooding on the west end of the bridge last March.
This photo is the south end of Henderson. I am standing on the earthern berm/levee that holds all that water back. That stop sign in the center of the photo is where we make a right turn to go to Mankato to shop or see our daughter. You can see by the street sign just how deep the water is.

There are small farms tucked up along the hillside along the five mile stretch of this highway 93 that goes south. They are not necessarily flooded but they are stranded as if they were on an island. It could be a week before the water will recede enough for them to leave their homes and farms.

As I mentioned earlier, all this water is still headed toward other communities.......Belle Plaine, Jordan, Shakopee, Savage.........and on to St. Paul and the Mississippi. Fall flooding is really unusual. Two major floods in one year is unusual. It was a long, hot summer. I sure hope this doesn't mean a long, cold winter. Oh, wait, that wouldn't be unusual for Minnesota. And in case, you are wondering, we live up on a ridge where we are high and dry. I always worry more about wind where we live but the reward of living up here is the beautiful sunsets we can see and the dairy farm across the way and the sound of the cows in the spring.........it is all music to my ears and so much better than the sound of traffic where we used to live!
Wherever you are I hope your weather is perfect!

As you can see, I was able to load photos with help from my husband. The new system for accessing my photos works better than the old one. I just didn't do it right yesterday. :-) Next post is all retreat and quilty fun!

Sandi