Flash Flood — Fillmore, Minnesota

2016-09-21 to 2016-09-22 · near Rushford, Fillmore, Minnesota

Event narrative

Heavy rain caused Sugar Creek to flood with water going over County Highway 8 west of Fountain. Flooding on Duschee Creek caused State Highway 16 to be closed southwest of Lanesboro. State Highway 16 was also closed west of Whalan due to a mudslide. Downed trees blocked U.S. Highway 52 south of Chatfield and State Highway 43 near Rushford. Ox Cart Road suffered severe damage from a mudslide. Flood waters completely covered Riverside Campground and 70 campers had to be evacuated from the Highway 250 Campground. Numerous township roads were also damaged by the flooding.

Wider weather episode

Several rounds of thunderstorms with heavy rain moved across southeast Minnesota from the early morning hours of September 21st into the morning of the 22nd. The heavy rain led to flash flooding across portions of Mower, Fillmore, Houston and Winona Counties. One person had be rescued in Austin (Mower County) after driving into flood waters. A mudslide near Pickwick (Winona County) sent trees sliding onto U.S. Highway 61. Several roads were closed in Fillmore and Houston Counties as a result of water over the roads, mudslides or downed trees. Between Fillmore and Houston Counties, damages from the flooding totaled just over $3 million. A state of emergency was declared in Fillmore County. A federal disaster declaration was made for Fillmore and Houston Counties.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (43.8417, -91.7503)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 659110. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.