As storm clouds began to clear in the Northland on Thursday, homeowners and agencies in flood-prone areas found that damage from the heavy rain was minimal.
"We still have some drizzle, and there is some stuff pushing up from the south that will give us a few more hundredths of an inch [of rain]," said National Weather Service meteorologist Kevin Donofrio. "But we're not going to see much more pretty much over all of northeast Minnesota."
As of Thursday night, Duluth had received just over1 inch of rain since it began falling Wednesday. Heavier rain fell in Wisconsin, with 1.84 inches of rain falling at the mouth of the Brule River, 1.8 inches falling north of Grantsburg and 2.15 falling at Clam Lake.
Today, the National Weather Service is predicting a high temperature near 68 with a 20 percent chance for showers or thunderstorms, and a west wind ranging from 10 to 20 mph, with possible gusts to 25 mph. Tonight there is a slight chance for showers with temperatures bottoming out about 47.
Duluth's sewer system weathered the heavy rains without any problems.
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"We did see quite a bit of extra water coming in, but we had no issues with collection system overflows or with the plant," said Karen Anderson, director of community relations for the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District.
WLSSD has experienced problems in the past during long periods of rainfall.
"If the ground is really saturated like we experienced last September and October, then we might have a higher likelihood of having problems," Anderson said. "Even though the ground is pretty saturated now, we didn't experience any problems. It's tough to say at which point we might experience problems."
Not much has changed along the Cloquet River, where Minnesota Power released water from its Island Lake reservoir Wednesday to avoid possible flooding. Minnesota Power officials said Thursday they expect no problems as long as current weather conditions hold. They still are issuing a precautionary warning to residents living near the river or along the reservoir system, as those areas are experiencing heavier than normal water flows.
"We are advising folks that we are releasing more water than we might normally release," said Nancy Norr, Minnesota Power company spokeswoman. "My understanding from our hydro operations is that we are seeing water levels drop in the reservoirs. But we know more rain is coming, and it takes about six days for all of the tributaries to bring that rain into the reservoir system."
There have not been any reports of significant damage as a result of the increase in water flow from the Cloquet River. Residents in low-lying neighborhoods near the St. Louis River that are typically prone to floods had no reports of flooding Thursday.
News Tribune staff writer Steve Kuchera contributed to this report.
