St. Paul is a river town and as one who lives by the river floods are hard to ignore. The river is both gorgeous and terrifying when it escapes it’s banks. This years flood is going to be a record breaker and all eyes are on the River. Sandbags were in place days ago and Warner road has been partially closed since Monday and is now completely closed.
Harriet and Raspberry Island are partly under water. The latest projections are that the river will raise to a level of 20.4 feet above flood stage by Wednesday. 20.4 feet is two feet higher than last years flood but six feet lower than the record. Neighborhood meetings have been held for people who live in Lowertown and on the Upper Landing it is possible that they will have to be evacuated. [See my infographic from last week]
According to the UpDraft the below freezing weather and snow we received earlier this week prevented the water from all going into the river all at once which would have brought the water higher. According to me we are in the season I call second Winter and I mostly hate it.
This weekend there will be plenty of people coming down to the river to see the water. For those who do not like traffic jams or freezing cold weather there is a live cam that shows the river. The action is slow but it is entertaining.
Screen shot from live cam Western end of Raspberry Island
Screen shot East end of Raspberry Island
Screen Shot, Harriet Island
The steps on Harriet Island are already underwater. I took the screen shots shortly after the river officially reached flood stage on Friday. Later today I am going down to the river with a friend to take some pictures of reporters standing in the water, those pictures are always a crowd pleaser.
