Residents along St. Croix River prepare for expected crest this weekend: “We’ve never seen it this high”

By Allen Henry

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    BAYPORT, Minnesota (WCCO) — Right now, the St. Croix River is literally less than an inch away from reaching its major flood stage.

WCCO News’ Allen Henry traveled to two communities on the river Wednesday – Bayport and Lakeland – to see what the conditions were like, and how residents are dealing with them.

After last year’s drought, Mary Jo and Pete Berger weren’t expecting the St. Croix to be as big as it was Wednesday in Bayport. The couple docks their boat near Lakeside Park, which is close to just becoming a lake.

“The road that comes into the park here, it’s covered with water, which I’ve never seen that either, so it’s definitely the highest we’ve ever seen it,” Pete Berger said.

“This year it’s like, whoa!” said Mary Jo Berger. “We’ve never seen it this high and it’s been 30 years that our boat’s been down here, so it’s amazing.”

But the impact of the flooding just depends on where you live. Five miles down river in Lakeland, the river is raging near the Interstate 94 bridge, but seemingly not creating as much trouble as it is upstream.

“This is without a doubt the worst that I’ve seen it in the past two, three years living in Bayport,” said resident Luke Sawtell. “We have waterfront property, which I’ve never thought I’d own [laughs]!”

For residents of the Waterford on the St. Croix, their garages have been emptied out, and are now filling with water.

“It’s beautiful living next to the river, but we’re literally living in the river right now, so it’s as close as you’re gonna get,” said resident Don Moe.

Residents say despite being built for such flooding, the water in their garages is still unsettling.

“You can hear the water slushing in the garage, yes, you can hear the lapping water depending on the wind. It does make it a little bit colder, right, because the cold water’s conducting on the concrete of our foundation, so that reverberates through the house. So it’s a little bit colder than normal, too,” Moe said.

As they wait to see just how high it will rise.

“There’s some more rain coming, too. That’s a little unsettling for us. Hopefully it won’t be too much. I mean, that can impact, right, the river, where it’s gonna go,” Moe said.

That rain, of course, will have an impact on when those rivers will crest and start to drop. Right now, the St. Croix is expected to top out on Sunday night.

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