With the rain that has fallen ahead of the winter storm in Crookston and the forecast calling for more rain and snow, the Red Lake River is predicted to rise fairly rapidly Thursday night throughout the weekend. As of 2:45 p.m. Thursday,
the river level was at 11.8 feet and is currently expected to crest Sunday evening at 19.9 feet. Although with the levy system Crookston won’t be at too much risk, it will put the City of Crookston into its’ high-water protocols.
Crookston Fire Chief and Emergency Manager Tim Froeber said he met with department heads to discuss the river level Thursday morning. “Today is Thursday, and this morning at 9:30 a.m., we pulled in some of the department heads and the City Administrator for a meeting to determine what protection and activities we need to do for the predicted 19.9-foot river level that is supposed to happen Sunday afternoon,” said Froeber. “Central Park will probably be inundated sometime over the weekend so by the end of the day Friday we’ll have Central Park closed. Hopefully, all the campers that are down there right now will be moved out by Friday night. After they leave, we’ll pull all the electrical services that are down there to help preserve those things.”
Campers, many of whom are here to help with the Beet Harvest, have already begun to pull out of Central Park. A makeshift campground has sprung up around the Downtown Square.
Public Works has also been putting pumps in place and will begin closing valves once the river reaches 16 feet, according to Froeber. “Public Works is putting pumps at all the lift stations for the anticipated high-water event with the amount of rain that we’re predicted to get,” said Froeber. “We’re talking about getting up to three inches of precipitation, whether its in rain or snow form. Public Works is also talking about going onto 24-hour shifts starting Saturday morning, depending on water levels at that time. They usually go to 24-hour shifts around the 16-foot mark so, looking like sometime Saturday they’ll be doing that. If there is a bunch of snow, the Public Works Department is going to get stretched pretty thin with snow removal and manning the pumps in the lift station. We’re trying to work out schedules help with that also. If we get over the 20-foot mark, we’ll decide if we’re going to open up the Emergency Command Center at City Hall. If we do, we’ll let the media know and have people call us with any concerns or issues they come across.”
The transition to snow could help slow the rise of the river as snow will need to melt before it can reach the river, said Froeber. “With the liquid precipitation, it gets to the river much quicker,” said Froeber. “If we get it in the form of snow, we can probably bank on a couple of days before that will melt and reach our river system.”
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