Flooding in St. Peter area leads to 10- to 12-mile detours due to bridge closures
ST. PETER, Minn. -- Between flushed parks, flooded highways, and forced closures -- the Minnesota River is fierce this spring.
"This is more than what we normally see this time of year by a long shot," Saint Peter City Administrator Todd Prafke said.
Wednesday morning, MnDOT crews closed the Highway 99 bridge in Saint Peter. Prafke says closing a major crossing like that one is fairly rare.
"It does happen every five, six, seven years," he said. "It just depends what mother nature has going."
This year, that travel impact is especially felt, as the bridge was already a detour for a project down the road.
"While we normally have two bridges, as of 9 o'clock today we have zero," Prafke said. "Right now neither of those bridges are available to across so the next available crossing is 10 to 12 miles in a different direction."
It's a headache for commuters, nearby business owners, and even students.
"It's a challenge for the school district and families," he said. "The school district crosses the river, so kids have to take a bus and just zoom across the river, they're taking a long way to school today."
They're not alone. Wayne Krohn spent an extra 20 minutes on the road Wednesday morning. He says a rainy weekend didn't help the already rising water.
"Saturday afternoon when it quit raining, I dumped an inch and a quarter out of my [rain] gage," Krohn said. "Sun came out and I thought we were in good shape. My driveway looked like a rain river and the next morning when I got up, I got five inches in a gage. So, I had six and a quarter inches in the gage."
Just north of Saint Peter, parts of Highway 93 and 00 near LeSuer and Henderson are closed off and underwater. MnDOT made the call Monday.
While the waters are high, so are spirits.
"We'll get by. We always have," Krohn said. "We're Minnesotans! We're tough. If we put up with all the snow this winter, we can put with this in the spring."
The Minnesota River is expected to crest in the next day or so. Check out 511mn.org to keep an eye out for major road closures in your area.
