Flood in Fillmore County, Minnesota

Flooding was reported over the southern half of the county. Roads that were closed due to high water included Highway 63 in Spring Valley and County Highway 15. A rainfall total of 7.25 inches was recorded for the weekend of June 7-8 in Harmony where over 100 basements flooded. There were nearly 300 homes impacted in the county along with contaminated or collapsed wells. Other county roads closed due to high water included 17, 12, 30, and 8. In Preston, 12 business were affected and the city waste water treatment plant was flooded. Some evacuations were needed in Preston, along with Lanesboro.

A warm front extended east to west across the Upper Mississippi Valley on June 7, which provided the focus for thunderstorms producing excessive rainfall. In fact, these storms exhibited very high rainfall rates, which led to 1 to 2 inch rainfall amounts in an hour or so. As the storms congealed into a larger scale line of thunderstorms, they continued to move over the same areas, which led to significant flash flooding through the evening and overnight.

On June 8, the warm front was lingering across the region, but a cold front was quickly tracking east out of the northern Plains. Showers and storms would redevelop during the day in the vicinity of the warm front, while a line of storms developed out ahead of the cold front, with these tracking across the region Sunday night. Again, copious amounts of moisture lead to periods of heavy rain.

The heavy rainfall on June 8 enhanced the already dangerous flooding conditions across parts of southeast Minnesota. Many roads were already closed from the June 7 rains due to water over the roadways, mudslides, or partial washouts. Conditions only worsened, leading to more road closures, sandbagging, and some evacuations.

While the rain was tapering off and moving east Sunday night, June 8, the rivers continued to rise, and some extremely quickly. Some rivers responded with a foot per hour rises. A top 5 record crest was set at the South Branch of the Root River at Preston.

Fillmore, Houston and Mower County were declared federal disaster areas. Damage to crops and infrastructure in these locations was preliminarily estimated at 25 to 35 million dollars.