There was good news Thursday in Moose Lake, where the level of the floodwaters was falling -- easing concerns in a community coping with significant flooding for the second time in four years.
Moosehead Lake and the Moose Horn River rose out of their banks from runoff after strong storms Monday into Tuesday, but on Thursday the worst of the flooding appeared to have passed.
“The water in the lake is going down, the river is going down … All our efforts for sandbagging, they worked great - so right now, things are really looking up for us,” Mayor Ted Shaw said Thursday afternoon.
A few homes had water in the basement and there was some road damage, Shaw said - but the crest was several feet below where the lake and river had been during the flooding of June 2012, which caused widespread, much-more-serious damage to homes and infrastructure in the city.
Moose Lake is preparing to host the
47th annual Agate Days festival
this weekend, as well as Art in the Park. Plans for those events remain on track, Shaw said - the Moose Lake School, which hosts Agate Days activities, had been damaged by the 2012 flood but escaped damage from this year's floodwaters.
The release of untreated sewage into the lake and river has ended, Shaw said Thursday. City officials reported Wednesday that the release was necessary to bypass lift stations that pump sewage to the city’s wastewater treatment plant; the release eased the burden on the pumps to keep them from overheating and potentially breaking down, which could have caused larger problems.
To the south, the Pine County Sheriff’s Office reported Thursday afternoon that the water level had dropped about 4 feet at the dam in Willow River, where a voluntary evacuation order was issued on Wednesday. But County Highway 61 remained closed in that area. The Minnesota Department of Transportation reported Thursday that State Highway 23 remained closed near Bruno because of high water.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources reported that all state parks remain open, but some campsites and other facilities are temporarily closed because of the flooding.
Closures as of Thursday included:
- Tamarack Horse Camp and Boulder Campground in St. Croix State Forest.
- Off-highway vehicle trails and some forest roads in the Nemadji and St. Croix state forests.
- Two bridges on the Willard Munger State Trail: the Kettle River bridge north of Rutledge and the Willow River bridge.
Find updates at mndnr.gov/closures .
