Flash Flood — Carlton, Minnesota

2012-06-20 · near Esko, Carlton, Minnesota

Event narrative

Jay Cooke State Park was evacuated due to severe flooding of the St. Louis River.

Highway 210 through the park was heavily damage. The historic swinging pedestrian bridge was washed away. Miles of hiking and biking trails were damaged.

Wider weather episode

A one in 500 year rainfall hit northeast Minnesota and far northwestern Wisconsin June 19th and 20th. An east to west front stalled just south of the area, across southern Minnesota and central Wisconsin early on June 19th: There was high humidity and record-breaking heat to the south of the front. Low pressure moving along the front reached southern Minnesota during the pre-dawn hours of June 20th. The low forced the warm humid air up over relatively cool air over northeast Minnesota, resulting in an area of strong thunderstorms with copious amounts of moisture and rain. The resulting June 19th and 20th rainfall amounts formed a sharp gradient along its southern boundary. Two inches or more rain fell north of a line from Little Falls through Mille Lacs Lake to Willow River and Bruno in Pine County and just south of Superior WI. Immediately north of that line, rainfall was over 4 inches in a 70 mile wide and at least 250 mile long band from southern Cass and Crow Wing counties east-northeastward along and south of the crest of the Iron Range, including the entire Duluth area, through the North Shore and the open waters of Lake Superior. More than a half foot fell across Carlton County, the southern quarter of St Louis County and the southern tip of Lake County. Rainfalls were 10 inches or more, according to the final MN Dept of Natural Resources map, in a 10 mile wide band along the Lake Superior shore including all of the residential Duluth area northeastward, for 75 miles, through the Two Harbors area. Another area with 10 inches or more of rain was to the west in a 15 mile wide band from central Carlton County running north for 50 miles, just east of Floodwood, and to the southern edge of the Iron Range. The rainfall resulted in widespread flooding and record-breaking stream and river levels. Most of the rain fell during a 12 hour period from the evening of the 19th through the early morning of of June 20th. The northern edge of heavy rain, with two inches of rain, extended from Cass Lake east-northeast through Hibbing and Embarrass to Ely, then straight northward, with all of Lake and Cook Counties receiving well over 2 inches of rain. The huge thunderstorm complex also produced areas of hail and locally damaging wind.

A Governor's Execute Order declaring a state of emergency was announced for Cook, Lake, St. Louis, and Aitkin counties. The National Guard was activated.

Numerous roads and bridges were washed out from the deluge of rain from Carlton County through the Duluth area and along the north shore of Lake Superior.

A raging Kingsbury Creek flooded the Lake Superior Zoo, drowning many animals. Two seals were swept from their enclosures, but were returned safely after being found on a local street. The polar bear escaped its exhibit, but was safely returned after being tranquilized.

An 8 year-old boy was pulled into a culvert while playing in the flood waters in Proctor. He was swept through the culvert for six blocks, but besides some scrapes, was unharmed.

Much of the towns of Thomson, Carlton, Barnum and Moose Lake in Carlton County and the Fon du Lac neighborhood of Duluth were flooded due to the over topping of water at the Thomas Dam spillway and Reservoir. Highway 210 through Jay Cooke State Park was washed away as was the park's historic swinging pedestrian bridge over the St. Louis River. The park was closed through the rest of the summer and likely into 2013.

Big Sandy Lake in Aitkin County flooded hundreds of properties. The lake is connected to the Mississippi River by a dam, but the Army Corps of Engineers could not let any of the lake water out due to the river levels being too high. That area hadn't seen such severe flooding since 1950.

A Presidential Disaster Declaration was proclaimed for Aitkin, Carlton, Cass, Cook, Crow Wing, Itasca, Lake, Pine, and St. Louis counties as well as the Fon du Lac band of Lake Superior Chippewa, the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe.

Total damage for the entire area of northeast Minnesota was estimated at least $108 million.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (46.7100, -92.3600)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 390624. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.