It is Friday and Fridays are for fun. For the last couple of years, the water level in the Mississippi River has been low. Parts of the river south of Minnesota were almost dry due to drought.
The river supplies drinking water and it is a major shipping channel. When the river gets low barges can not get through.
This spring we are seeing major flooding along the river due to snow melt. We had the third snowiest winter on record and in some parts of Northern Minnesota the snowiest winter on record.
There used to be housing closer to the river in St. Paul but due to frequent floods the housing has been removed and the land is now public parks. It isn’t unusual for some of those parks to remain closed or partially closed until July due to spring flooding.
Shepard Road near downtown St. Paul is partially underwater and closed. The river should crest this weekend and then start to recede.
Here are some pictures taken during my daily walks.
The current is powerful. One of the best places to view the flood is from the Science Museum’s outdoor balcony, the Wabasha street bridge, the Robert Street Bridge, or the Smith avenue high bridge.
