In the summer of 2014, Prior Lake, Minnesota saw the largest flood it had ever seen since the 1980s. In the weeks of June, the city experienced over 13 inches of rainfall and a 60 year flooding. During this rainfall, the lake level peaked at 906.17 feet above sea level, compared to the ordinary high water of 903.9. Even after the rain stopped, the lake levels continued rising. Neighborhood streets and country roads were closed and underwater. Fourth of July celebrations were moved and postponed. A slow, no-wake zone was implemented for the entire lakes of Prior Lake and its neighbor, Spring Lake. These restrictions were to continue until the lake levels dropped below 904 feet for three consecutive days.
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| Neighborhood street underwater |
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| House surrounded by sandbags and water |
Some neighborhood streets had more than 3 feet of standing water. Residents were unable to drive to and from their home, and instead had to paddle boat or canoe. The original mitigation process was placing sandbags around homes and streets, which were somewhat effective at keeping water out of homes, but still kept neighborhood streets underwater for four weeks. It wasn’t until the end of July that city staff, residents, and around 300 volunteers set up a 700 foot long concrete barrier and began pumping water out of the streets. Prior Lake spent around $8,500 on the barriers and reported $166,000 in flood damage to FEMA. This approach greatly helped reduce the flooding, however many residents wondered why they had to wait a month for an effective solution that took only 2 days to be put in place.
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| Residents canoeing to and from their home |
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| Concrete Barrier |
Due to this frustration, the city of Prior Lake had FEMA establish a new 100-year floodplain elevation for Prior Lake in 2016, which hadn’t been updated since 1997. The previous study placed the flooding at 2 feet higher than what they now consider a 100-year flood, due to a current natural outlet, which was previously not there in 1997. This city’s understanding of a Prior Lake flood is now much more accurate than it was before. As well, the flood mitigations and responses were updated and are now taken more seriously. The responsibility is still mainly on the private property owners, however they are able to utilize city help. Although the original response to the record making flood was late and ineffective, new policies have been put in place to avoid the lack of response seen in 2014.
Here is a news report which shows scenes and personal reports from the flood:
Here is a news report which shows scenes and personal reports from the flood:
Resources:
Do you know why the floodplain elevation hadn't been undated in almost twenty years?
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