With the Red Lake River on the rise and a new initial crest predicted at 22 feet, City of Crookston Emergency Management and Public Works have had to shift their plans from a few days ago.
Crookston Emergency Manager Tim Froeber said the city would likely open its Emergency Operations Center (EOC) sometime on Thursday as the river reached 20 feet. “Now that we have a river forecast that went to 22 feet for some time on Saturday, we will be opening up the EOC at city hall when it reaches 20 feet,” said Froeber. “That looks like it will be sometime on Thursday. With the cooler temps that are coming, that’s going to slow to melt down a little bit. And with the snow, they’re anticipating a possible four to seven inches. We’re going to end up with a secondary crest again in the middle of next week as that melts. Also, as the ice starts to move, that will change the water level significantly too, so hopefully, we don’t end up with any ice jams and cause any problems there.”
Public Works Director Pat Kelly said crews began working at 4:00 a.m. Wednesday and will continue on 24-hour shifts until the river level subsides. “This morning at 4:00 a.m., we started our 24-hour shifts,” said Kelly. “Crews have been out closing valves, and we had most of our pumps set the day before. Now we are going around monitoring our different pumping points, pumping down, and keeping an eye on the system.”
Kelly said the crews would continue monitoring the river and closing valves before asking that residents consider reducing their water usage to ease the burden on the lift stations throughout town during the high-water event. “We have a chart that we utilize for elevations on valve closing,” said Kelly. “We just keep monitoring the river as we go along, and close valves as necessary, then monitor any runoff from that drain and pump that out. I guess the one thing we might mention is when we get high water if we could have the public try to minimize their water usage a little bit, it would certainly help our lift stations. As the water gets high, we start getting more infiltration into some of our subdivisions, into the sandier soils. We start getting water entering into some of our piping nets, so our lift stations are running a little harder right now, and anything anybody could do to help relieve that would be appreciated.”
Froeber said he expects Central Park to flood overnight Wednesday or early Thursday and asked that residents call the EOC number if they notice any seepage through the levees or storm sewer backups. “We’re also anticipating central park will flood sometime Thursday, if not late tonight as the river continues to rise,” said Froeber. “That usually fills up around the 19-foot mark. One thing I would like to pass onto people is if they do notice anything unusual around the levies like water seeping through them or storm sewers backing up that they call EOC at 281-4363. That number is answered 24 hours a day.”
Froeber also reminds people that levees in neighborhoods are private property, and the public is asked to stay off them for that reason in addition to staying off for their safety as the levees will be slippery.
For the RED LAKE RIVER levels in Crookston click here.
