Flash Flood — Houston, Minnesota

2007-08-18 to 2007-08-19 · near Hokah, Houston, Minnesota

Event narrative

At least 50 mudslides were reported across the county with four state highways and eight county roads closed. At one point 20 roads were closed across the county. Some homes collapsed or were carried away by mudslides. Numerous railroad tracks and bridges washed out. There were numerous reports of injuries. Hardest hit communities included Houston, Hokah, La Crescent and Brownsville. A 25 foot earthen dam near Hokah, which was built in 1921, collapsed. This caused significant damage to a portion of the town, including the main park and an automobile dealership. First calls of flooding began around 9:30 p.m. Saturday August 18 to dispatch center, with flooding problems becoming exceedingly worse afterwards.

4,200 homes were reportedly damaged or destroyed.

Wider weather episode

A warm front lifting northward into Iowa triggered round after round of thunderstorms with excessive rainfall across southeast Minnesota during the evening and overnight hours of August 18-19. This was after rain had fallen earlier in the day. Total rainfall amounts of 10 to 15 inches were common, which produced widespread and significant flash flooding. An official rainfall total of 15.1 inches near Hokah (Houston County) established an all-time 24 hour rainfall record for the state of Minnesota. Other rainfall totals, which were unofficial readings, included 17.00 and 14.00 inches respectively in Witoka and Utica (Winona County). Numerous roads and bridges were washed out, houses collapsed due to mudslides and hundreds of homes had flooded basements. Law enforcement and fire department officials reported rescuing people from their vehicles, as well as from house tops. There were seven fatalities reported, five in Winona County and two in Houston County. Damage attributed to the heavy rainfall and subsequent flooding was estimated to be in the millions of dollars. Fillmore, Houston, Olmsted, Wabasha and Winona counties were declared federal disaster areas.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (43.7575, -91.3473)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 50182. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.