The St. Croix River is at risk for potential historic flooding and the city of Stillwater has been anticipating the impact for weeks. This could be the worst flooding the city has seen in 22 years. Historically, Stillwater sees about an 11% risk of major flooding. This year the risk is at 81%.
Stillwater mayor Ted Kozlowski said, “The community is expecting the river to rise about 12 feet.”
Thanks to the help of hundreds of volunteers, Stillwater created a sandbag levee and a temporary berm along the waterfront that will help stop the rising river from making its way into downtown.
Senators Amy Klobuchar, Tina Smith and Rep. Betty McCollum met with local officials in Stillwater last week to hear about the city’s flood prevention plan, tour the area and assess the situation.
"We are more than ready to respond,” said Klobuchar. “We got a quick response from FEMA and we are ready with FEMA funds. In Minnesota. FEMA is a good four-letter word in our state. So, if it happens, we are ready.”
Klobuchar added, “The standard for flooding damage is if there’s $10 million of public infrastructure that gets damaged, then the FEMA funding is triggered by request from the governor. Then you look at each county to see what damage happened.”
“Senator Klobuchar and I and Representative McCollum will be ready to help with Governor Walz in any way that the community needs, should the waters of the river get over this flood wall and threaten the businesses in downtown Stillwater.”
Meanwhile, up the river in Marine on St. Croix, Mike Zajac and Megan Kavanagh, owners of Marine Landing b.o.t.m. restaurant, are also preparing for the river to rise. “We heard the river crested in Grantsburg yesterday,” said Zajac. “Typically, an inch up north in our watershed usually translates into a foot for us.”
Last week, Zajac and Kavanagh started moving equipment and other items to temporarily store in a garage next to the restaurant that sits on higher elevation.
“Everything is designed to be portable,” said Kavanagh. “The coolers are on wheels and sinks detach easily. If the waters rise to high, we go in with our kayaks to take things off the walls.”
By Saturday, Zajac was in his kayak.
Zajac and Kavanagh have seen the restaurant flood several times since they took over. The restaurant, which is situated along the western bank of the St. Croix River, has seen flooding in 2012, 2013 and 2016.
“It’s just part of being on the river,” said Kavanagh. “We know what to do. We’ve done this before. The one thing we don’t know is how long the flooding will last.”
Zajac and Kavanagh are hoping the water recedes in time to put the restaurant back together for the official opening of Memorial Day weekend.
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