St. Clair braces for more flooding

Sept. 24--ST. CLAIR -- As flood waters edged closer to the St. Clair wastewater treatment plant's lift station Friday morning, crews piled one sandbag on top of another around the structure to stave off the rush.

Water from the nearby Le Sueur River had earlier in the morning overtaken the berm established around the perimeter of the plant after less severe flooding in 2010.

The sandbags, then, served as the last option to keep the city's remaining lift station above water -- the one near the post office was already submerged.

St. Clair public works employee Deb McCollum, overseeing the sandbagging efforts, said she held her breathe as the water edged closer to the plant's lift station earlier Friday.

It stopped eventually, but no one but Mother Nature knows for how long.

The city is receiving the brunt of heavy rainfalls both in the town itself and further upstream the river in Waseca and other communities. Residents said St. Clair received about 8 inches total over the last several days. When you add the 14 or so inches Waseca got, you get enough water to destroy homes.

McCollum, who lives on Main Street, said the water was up to her backdoor already Friday morning.

"I'm afraid to even go home," she said. "I don't know what I'm going to go home to."

Other houses had it even worse off. City Councilmember Jerry Phillips, directing traffic into town, said about seven houses were already lost by 10 a.m.

By the late afternoon, Mayor Marvin More counted at least 12 flooded houses.

"(The water) is so much higher than it was in 2010, and back then they said it was the highest anyone had seen it," he said.

Most residents were voluntarily evacuated from Fitzloff Avenue and nearby streets adjacent to the post office. Nearby, the bridge crossing the river was submerged under about 2 feet of water.

At least one resident refused to leave their home. Lt. Jeremy Brennan of the Blue Earth County Sheriff's Office said the department will continue to offer a boat ride to bring the resident across the water to safety.

Mark Sargent and his wife, Kathryn, left their home on the same street Thursday night to stay with friends in Mankato. At the time, their basement had 4 feet of water. When they were taxied by boat back to the house to pick up essentials Friday, they found the basement door blown in by rising water.

"If the river goes up more, (the house) is lost," Mark said, adding he was thankful to have flood insurance.

Between 6 and 11:30 a.m., water was rising about one inch per hour, Brennan said. The river could crest by Saturday, but that's highly dependent on how much rain falls in the next day.

"It has slowed down from yesterday, but it is still rising," he said. "Anticipated crest is maybe tomorrow."

As everyone in St. Clair knows, the rain that falls in town is hardly all they need to worry about.

"We shall see," said Matthew Grunewald, who lives up the hill from the post office. "It's not just the rain that falls here, it's all the rain that falls upstream."

If water were to submerge the second lift station, he said many more homes in town could be destroyed.

"Every house in St. Clair, the drain better be stopped up or it will become a brown geyser," he said, referring to the sewage.

There's a chance St. Clair could avoid more rainfall, but rain is predicted for Waseca Saturday. That worry comes on top of concerns regarding the remaining floodwater in Waseca flowing downstream.

As of Friday afternoon, the water's rise had slightly slowed. Brennan said the city is in wait-and-see mode.

"We're into that lull where we have stuff going, so we're trying to predict and prepare for the next step," he said.

The sandbagging at the treatment plant was just one part of a community-wide effort to prepare for the flooding.

At St. Clair Public School, cancelled for the day, teachers piled everything from their classrooms onto desks amid fears of the water reaching the school. Equipment from the basement was stacked in the gymnasium. An advisor at the school, Sherrie Wakefield, even packed up her car with materials.

On the outskirts of town, volunteers from across the region worked to fill sandbags so piling efforts elsewhere could continue.

St. Clair firefighter Roger Otto said the area response to the flood was incredible.

"It's been a really good showing of community support," he said.

Support was so strong that the sheriff's department quit welcoming help, Brennan said.

"We're turning down more help than what we need, which is a great problem to have," he said.

To curb excess traffic, streets into town were closed to unnecessary vehicles due to the high number of trucks bringing in supplies and portable restrooms. Residents are asked not to run water or flush toilets until the flooding subsided.

Despite encouragement to rest up and recharge, most residents said they'd been working around the clock doing whatever they can to keep the flood waters at bay.

Otto said he expects the tireless work ethic to continue if the water keeps rising as expected.

"It'll probably get a little worse, if not a lot," he said. "But we hope for the best and prepare for the worst."

Follow Brian Arola @BrianArolaMFP.

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