Storm systems moved across Northeastern Minnesota on Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning, bringing heavy rain and flash flood damage to Ely.
Many areas of Ely saw between three and four inches of rain in a 24-hour period, according to a Public Information Statement from the National Weather Service.
Between 1.25 to 2.0 inches fell before 8 a.m., saturating the ground and increasing stream flow just a few hours before a second wave of precipitation brought up to an additional 3.7 inches in the late morning that led to flooding.
“The area can handle some heavy rain, but when it falls in that short period of time, it tends to lead to some impacts,” said a representative from the National Weather Service in Duluth, “We’re getting to the point where our monthly total is running in the seven to eight inch range, which is pretty high. That’s a couple inches above normal.”
Water inundated Whiteside Park and many streets around the city. The worsthit sections saw knee-deep flooding, including Eighth Avenue between Chapman and Harvey and also on Pattison Street, said clerk-treasurer and operations director Harold Langowski.
In the event of another flash flood, he warns residents not to drive through standing water on the roads, which occurred yesterday near Eighth and Harvey.
“What ends up happening is they send a big wake into people’s houses,” Langowski said, “They didn’t have water in their basement, somebody drives by, kicking up a twofoot wake, and the water goes in their basement windows.”
Langowski says everything is “pretty much back to normal” by now, but some roads remain barricaded to prepare for the next storm cell, which is forecasted for Sunday after two dry days on Friday and Saturday.
The Town of Morse had two roads damaged from the heavy rain. Newgord Drive was closed after water washed out the road where two culverts couldn’t handle the flow. Shagawa Road also received damage to the north of Newgord but city crews were able to make repairs next to the water plant.
“We were able to get Newgord back open that day thanks to help from Casey Peterson and Jeff and Cody from Schulze Excavating,” said Morse board chair Terry Soderberg. “We want to thank the city for their help as well, everybody pitched in.”
The Blueberry Festival will still proceed at Whiteside Park as planned, with some vendors already beginning the set-up process.
“Come about 6:30 Thursday morning of Blueberry Arts is when all the vendors start showing up and they start getting ready to set up their booth. So they’re all clamoring for a parking spot,” said Langowski, “Last night we checked to make sure the park wasn’t really soggy, because, of course, we don’t want it all rutted up, and it already seemed to be drying out.”
