The Flood that Changed the Town

Duluth, Minnesota is a town of many extreme weather conditions, but the most fearful ones come from the summer storms. Just about every summer there is one big storm that completely debilitates the city. We are prepared for the blizzards and nasty cold, but somehow water seems to be a surprise to those of us living in northern Minnesota. 

Seen here is the seal that escaped from the zoo.

The biggest storm I can remember is that of June 19th, 2012. It ended up being more than 10 inches of rainfall. It wreaked so much havoc: there was a child who fell into a sinkhole and got sucked into a culvert for six blocks (he lived), cars falling into sinkholes, my local park (and ski hill) faced multiple landslides, and most of the zoo animals either escaping or dying (the seal was a common sighting on the streets for the next several day). Amidst all the doom and gloom there was also some sunshine. People were kayaking to work and acting as a community to fix some of the more aggressive damage that occurred to personal properties. I remember seeing one of the kayakers out on the streets and I turned to my mom asking to go out and join. She promptly turned me down, telling me to stay inside where it was safer. 

The flood had started out as simple flash flood warnings; decently common occurrences that Duluthians don’t pay too much attention to anymore. It soon turned into a real risk. Duluth took a big hit from this storm, our creeks, rivers, and streams that feed from and into Lake Superior aided Mother Nature in destroying the city. The surrounding areas were also affected, even as far out as Hibbing and Grand Marais.  

Image of one of the trees in front of my house and some of the damage it took. Photo taken by my father.

        Image taken from weather.gov on the Duluth Flood of 2012. 

Later the next day, once the rains had died down, the whole neighborhood banded together at the call of our local park, Chester Bowl, in order to remove all of the trees that had fallen into the creek and were disrupting the natural flow of the water to help drainage. It was here where I saw most of the damage I would see in the days immediately after the flood. One of the trees completely trashed a bridge that went from the playground to the ski hill. The movement of the water had also taken a good couple of feet off of a dam that has stood longer than I have been alive. Just outside the entrance to the park there was a landslide that completely cut off the road and, in some parts of the street, entirely broke it off into the drop off below. One of my family friends had her house get washed away off of the hill because of the torrential waters. She had her home on stilts to hang off the side of a slope and continue seeing the beautiful views of Lake Superior, but that has proven to have been a poor decision.  Since 2012 people have put preventative and protective measures in place. More landslide barriers (walls of rock placed onto the side of an incline) line the road to Chester Bowl. People took out water damage insurance. Chester Bowl changed the dam system to instead use rocks to slow the water down but keep the trout population thriving (this has to do with how dams can warm the still, lower water and negatively affect the trout). 

Storms, not this severe but similar, happen just about every summer. Most times it falls within a week of my birthday. But in 2016, on July 22nd a big storm hit and was the next major water incident in Duluth after the flood. I vividly remember waking up, excited to spend some time with my family and maybe go for a walk through Chester Bowl, and was instead met with an empty house. My family was outside starting to remove chunks from our now dead tree. The limbs had been all mangled and destroyed, barely missing our house as it fell. Instead of eating cake and opening gifts, that day was spent driving around and offering our help to friends, neighbors, and strangers who fared damages far worse than us. Luckily, they weren’t as drastic and deadly as they could have been because people were prepared after the great flood of 2012.

Works Cited

Huttner, Paul. “Anatomy of the 2012 Duluth Flood.” MPR News, 19 June 2013, www.mprnews.org/story/2013/06/19/anatomy-of-the-2012-duluth-flood. 

Meryhew, Richard, et al. “Duluth Washed out by Torrential Rain, Worst Flooding in Century.” Star Tribune, Star Tribune, 21 June 2012, www.startribune.com/duluth-washed-out-by-torrential-rain/159690605/?refresh=true. 

Montgomery, Derek, and Minnesota Public Radio. “Before and after Photos: 2012 Flood Damage, Recovery in Duluth, Northeast Minnesota.” MPR News, 19 June 2013, minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2013/06/duluth-flood-before-after-gallery/.  

News@duluthnewstribune.com. “Flood Leaves behind a Chester Bowl Quandary.” Duluth News Tribune, 1 July 2012, www.duluthnewstribune.com/sports/2436400-flood-leaves-behind-chester-bowl-quandary. 

Samenow, Jason. “Duluth Experiences One of Worst Floods on Record (PHOTOS).” The Washington Post, WP Company, 21 June 2012, www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/post/duluth-experiences-one-of-worst-floods-on-record-photos/2012/06/21/gJQAPZ0nsV_blog.html. 

US Department of Commerce, and Noaa. “June 2012 Flood in Duluth and the Northland.” National Weather Service, NOAA's National Weather Service, 20 June 2019, www.weather.gov/dlh/june2012_duluth_flood.