Lake Zumbro is on the rise

Lake Zumbro has a “no wake” status in effect now. Currently 2.0 ft. above crest and rising. Reports of 6-10 inches of rain in the area and rain is still falling.

A pic of the Zumbro River from 37th St. in Rochester.

Another from 37th St.

The park area by Elton Hills, the foot bridge is completely under water.

Another shot from the park area.

Flooded road on East River Parkway.

Flooded parking area.

Below the Silver Lake dam on Broadway.

The Cascade Creek dumping into the Zumbro River, just below Broadway.

Above Silver Lake at the 7th St. Bridge.

The shot of Cascade running into the river shows our backyard, just to the left of the kink in the bike trail. Right now the river is less than a hundred feet from our garage, but has to climb another 25 feet to get us wet.

The pic Mike shows of the Cascade really does not do justice to how ugly that creek is right now. Taint Mike’s poor camera handling…..a person just can’t hardly get to where the ugly is without being on the other side of the river. Great pics Mike.

The smell in the air reminds me of the 78 flood. Mike and I were both right in the midst of that ugly one too.

Yes, I couldn’t get very close to the Cascade. It is certainly a dangerous situation.
This very much reminds me of the ’78 flood! Thankfully the flood control project is once again showing it was worth doing.

Thanks for the pics Mike. This situation is not good and with the rain forcast for the next week it could get even worse. Granted we needed rain but NOT like this. This is way to much. Without the flood control projects that were done in the past we would really have a mess. And trouble/flooding will still occur in areas as you can see. Everyones prayers are certainly needed for the families who may get water problems from all this rain and so it doesn’t get any worse than it already is. Thanks
Thanks, Bill

Below is a link to the Wake/No Wake site for Lake Zumbro.

Wake/No Wake Site for Lake Zumbro

WOW! Those are some dramatic pictures! It makes me want to go for a drive to check it out. Too bad I will be laying towels down on my carpet all day. I’m one of thousands (I’m sure) that are mopping up after the rain last night. It would have been just fine if my foundation sump wasn’t wired to a GFCI that tripped Thank goodness it’s very minimal. I hope the rest of you are in dry company.

Chris

The Lake is 3 and a half over the spill crest at 10:10. I am sure it is still going up…. could be a long week for it to come back down.

On a follow up of HOF pictures we went out to check it out this morning,we saw IDA member ct (standing on left side of foot bridge)on our outing, here is one of the pics we got of the area by his house.

Another pic facing south off the footbridge.

Went for a ride around noon to see the water. CT’s back yard used to be a gentle bubbling Cascade Creek. Looked today more like the raging Colorado.
Mike’s pictures and what I saw today couldn’t help remind me of the 78 flood which I witnessed first hand.
I just kept thinking to myself what might have been today without the flood control project? Unless you live on top of Assissi Heights, you have to admit it was probably money well spent. See big brother can get it right once in awhile.

Yup…..the little creek lost its effervescence yesterday. In Trumar’s [good to see you Trumar] second pic [facing south off the bridge], my house is immediately to the right and that surge wall you see was about eight feet tall at the time of the pic. The river/creek appear to be down about four feet from its highest that yesterday coughed up. It may be lower. Lake Zumbro at 5:30 this AM was showing a 4.9 foot level.

Mike stopped by yesterday and got a wet vac to deal with some water his basement took on. How small our problems can look when we see our neighboring communities wiped away from waters like these. And then imagine losing a life or loved one to this.

Like many of the readers here, I survived the 1978 flood here in Rochester. I know what it is like to have life come to a screaching halt…..to lose everything but the clothes on your back and your family. Yesterday brought back a lot of feelings and memories. Yesterday was high and dry for me though, so I had plenty of time to send some prayers to those who need much, much more than I do right now.

I live about 2 miles from Bucksnort dam on Trout Run.Checked it yesterday and have never seen the water that high. Talked to a couple neighbors who have lived here all there lifes and they both said it is the highest they have ever seen it. One of them is in his 80’s. Roads are out all over in this area so please hold off on sight seeing until they can be repaired. With more rain coming this week it could be awhile.

This is a link to the root river water levels. Pretty incredible the rate at which the river was rising at these two locations. WOW.

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/river_levels/levels.html?id=root

Tom and I took a ride out to Lake Zumbro this morning. First pic is the Sandy Point area.

Here is someone’s escaped pontoon. Looked to be lodged in the brush across from Sandy Point.

This is the Fisherman’s Inn launch.

Looking toward the public fishing docks by Fisherman’s Inn.

One more of the docks at Fisherman’s Inn launch.

We saw some future structure floating downstream too. Lots of it.

At the public fishing piers there were a handful of people fishing. Just what they were fishing for was not asked. I say go for it. We saw one fish with lots of yellow roll out in front of the ski dock. Can we say carpus delecticus?

The shore had some debris that made it look like the water had dropped a bit, but it may have been from wave action.

On another note…..Mike and I are in complete agreement that the water temperatures have probably dropped pretty good now. When have any of you heard of the two of us agreeing on anything?

Just out of curiosity I checked the county site and the lake has come down by .5 feet. That measurement was taken at 9 bells this morning. Maybe we will be able to fish the lake by November.

Would love to see a picture of the water coming over Lake Zumbro dam. I’m sure that would be a tough and a little unsafe one to get at the moment. Ma lives near the green bridge and tells me the parking lot (if you want to call it that) is gonna be swamped for a while. Speaking of floating structure, do you think the raging water will deepen some of the holes a bit? Small mouth and muskie habitat galore.

The violent nature of the high water crashing down below the dam will certainly change things for quite a ways downstream from the plunge pool. What has been taking place over the last few days is merely a part of the cycle that smallies and muskies will adapt to as far as habitat goes. When this is over the water will again be well-oxygenated and cooler than the lake or further downstream….something both species relish.