KDSN RADIO News
‘Flood waves’ from Minnesota, Wisconsin rolling along eastern Iowa’s Mississippi River corridor
The Mississippi River at Burlington was above flood stage by Sunday night and is expected to reach more than four feet above food stage by Friday. Matt Wilson, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service in the Quad Cities, says it’s not clear yet how high the river will rise in places like Burlington and Fort Madison.
“The big thing that’s causing this flooding is all the rain that they’re getting up in Minnesota and Wisconsin,” Wilson says.
Wilson says the rivers that drain into the upper Mississippi are sending “flood waves” south, similar to what happened this spring as heavy snow melted upstream. Boating on the Mississippi River can be dangerous when it floods.
“If we’re at major flood from Camanche down to Burlington, the river’s had many opportunities to reach out and pick up all kinds of debris from the river banks — dead trees, old campers,” Wilson says. “You’d be surprised what has been found deposited after floods from upstream to downstream.”
Shannon Prado, Des Moines County Emergency Management coordinator, says there’s some limited flooding in Burlington, but nothing is reaching critical infrastructure. “In 2008, if you go way back to 1993, they had severe river flooding in the Burlington metro area,” she says. “They really don’t see those impacts any more due to this floodwall.”
Docks are being pulled out of the Burlington riverfront along that floodwall and Prado says Hesco barriers that create temporary levies are being put up in the area.
