Flood — Wabasha, Minnesota

2010-09-24 to 2010-09-26 · near Zumbro Falls, Wabasha, Minnesota

Event narrative

Major flooding occurred in the town of Zumbro Falls as the Zumbro River rose to record levels. Of the 95 homes in the town, 60 were affected by flood waters. Businesses in the downtown area also saw damages, while propane tanks were seen floating around. The entire town was evacuated, while power, water and septic systems were down for days. The rainfall as of 5:30 a.m. CST on the 23rd amounted to 6.37 inches.

Wider weather episode

A stationary front set up across southern Minnesota on the evening of September 22nd. As an unusually moist air mass flowed over this boundary, heavy rain developed and fell repeatedly across the area during the evening and overnight hours. Soils were abnormally wet for this time of year, therefore the extreme rainfall amounts that fell caused widespread significant river flooding and flash flooding. Infrastructure was greatly affected with millions of dollars of damage, while private properties were also heavily damaged. Dodge, Olmsted, Wabasha, Winona, and Mower counties were included in federal disaster declarations (FEMA-1941-DR).

View location on OpenStreetMap → (44.2923, -92.4280)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 259989. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.