Flooding Impacts Local Travel, Farmers
By Garrick & Carrie Moritz, Garretson Gazette
Heavy rains last week made for interesting travel, and heartbreak for farmers, as flooding was experienced around the region.
Many flooding records were broken on Thursday, September 12 through Saturday, September 14, after anywhere between 6 and 11 inches of rain fell in and around Garretson in a 5-day period.
Several of those records had been set as recently as March of 2019, when fast snowmelt and several storms had combined to create flood conditions.
With the late summer storms, many creeks and rivers were at their lowest points prior to the rains, which meant that the water rose, crested, and then lowered very quickly. Floodwaters flowed fast, causing a large amount of damage to culverts. Bridges are still being assessed for long-term damages.
In Garretson, Split Rock Creek overflowed its banks, quickly rising to fully submerge the Crappie Bridge near the dam in Splitrock Park. Long-time locals talked to by the Gazette could not recall that ever happening before.
Water levels just south of Jasper, MN were measured at 99.94 ft at 3:45 pm on Sept 12, breaking a prior record of 98.5 ft that had been set in 2014. South of Garretson, Split Rock Creek crested at 18.7 ft at 10:00 pm in Corson.
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