Flash Flood — Rice, Minnesota

2013-07-13 · near Faribault Arpt, Rice, Minnesota

Event narrative

Several local officials, trained spotters and the general public observed flash flooding across northern and eastern Rice County due to 3, to locally 8. inches of rain that fell between 6 AM CST to 10 AM CST.

Rice County Sheriff officials indicated that a number of residents were evacuated in Dundas, where homes suffered significant damage. Businesses were also damaged.

Roads were closed after several washed away. County Roads 88, 82 and 29 were blocked off for repairs.

The most significant road damage appears to be in Bridgewater, Northfield, Wheeling and Webster Townships.

Rice County Road 78 between Dundas and Northfield washed away, along with part of a bike path and a portion of Union Pacific rail bed. Authorities say a gas line and optic communication lines were also severed when the road washed away.

Wider weather episode

Scattered thunderstorms that developed across west central Minnesota early Saturday morning, July 13th, moved southeast across central, east central and south central Minnesota by daybreak. After 3 AM CST, thunderstorms began across of the western suburbs of the Twin Cities, and slowly moved southeast across the southwest Metro, and then portions of south central and southeast Minnesota around Elko New Market, Northfield and Dundas, where locally 5 to 9 inches of rain fell between 6 AM CST, to 9 AM CST.

The heaviest rainfall occurred between 3 AM CST and 6 AM CST across Carver, Hennepin, and northern Scott counties. These areas received between 3 and 6 inches of rainfall in 2-3 hours. Flooding reports were widespread across southern Hennepin and northern Scott counties. Flood waters quickly went into area streams and creeks and spilled across low areas of southern Hennepin county. There were many reports of bike paths, golf courses and intersections inundated with flood waters.

The storms continued to back build across the southwestern suburbs of the Twin Cities, and spread southeast into southern Scott, southwestern Dakota and northern Rice counties between 6 AM CST to 9 AM CST. Rainfall amounts surpassed 5 inches, with as much as locally 8.3 inches in a band from near Prior Lake, southeast to Elko New Market, Webster, Dundas and Northfield.

The storms started to weaken after 9 AM, but lingering showers continued through 10 AM before moving south of the flooded region. By noon, rainfall totals surpassed normal July monthly totals within 3 to 6 hours.

The rainfall amounts and high rates caused significant flooding along the Cannon, Vermillion, and Little Cannon Rivers, and many creeks and streams that feed into these longer river systems.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (44.3485, -93.3412)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 452968. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.