This year, however, the flooding could rival historic levels because of a deep snowpack that blanketed most of state. Nestled between the Vermillion and Mississippi rivers near Red Wing, Prairie Island is accustomed to spring flooding because much of the reservation is in a floodplain.
It issued its first warning that widespread ice jam and snowmelt flooding would increase this week and into next week for all basins in the region. The main spring snowmelt has begun in central and southern Minnesota and west-central Wisconsin and will increase through the weekend, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). While the winter-weary will celebrate the first day of spring on Wednesday, Martin, along with city officials across Minnesota, are preparing for the worst as temperatures push toward 50.Īs the landscape thaws, the threat of significant flooding looms from the Red River Valley in the northwest to the Mississippi basin in the southeast. “We don’t know what to expect,” Martin, the community’s emergency management coordinator, told about 100 employees as they gathered to discuss flood plans. But on Tuesday, he was leading the Prairie Island Indian Community in its fight to hold back the water.
Schyler Martin stood on a frozen Mississippi River a couple of weeks ago, angling for some fish.
