Free sand relocated with more flooding expected

Posted

Updated 10:30 a.m. 03-20-19

BROOKINGS – Ahead of predictions of ongoing flooding throughout Brookings County, Brookings County Development Director and Emergency Manager Bob Hill has advised the public that the sandbag filling location has been relocated from the Brookings County Outdoor Adventure Center to the Swiftel Center.

The sand pile is located at the Swiftel Center’s south parking lot and is marked off by traffic cones. The same rules apply as before: people are expected to bring their own sandbags and shovel to help themselves to the sand.

He added that as the weather continues to warm and snow and ice continue to thaw, numerous roads in the county are being closed due to water running over them and damage to the roads from water running over them.

Hill noted that starting Friday, March 22, the freeze/thaw cycle will stop, and it will remain above freezing overnight.

“If you know of a closed road, please report it,” Hill said in a prepared statement. “It is important that our dispatch center knows which roads are closed so that they can inform our first responders.”

As of Tuesday morning, four stretches of roads were closed. There’s 213th Street from 473rd Avenue to 475th Avenue, 214th Street from 473rd Avenue to 475th Avenue, 213th Street from 461st Avenue to 462nd Avenue and 466th Avenue from 212th Street to 213th Street.

He added that Brookings County is under two flood warnings. One is for Six Mile Creek until further notice. The flood stage for Six Mile Creek is 1,634 feet, the number referring to the elevation of the creek itself rather than the depth of the creek.

As of 2 p.m. Monday, the creek was at 1,634.62 feet. At stages near 1,635 feet, township roads northeast of Brookings begin to flood, according to Hill.

The other flood warning continues for the Big Sioux River near Brookings until further notice, with major flooding forecasted. That river’s flood stage is 9 feet, and its stage was 7.57 feet as of 1 p.m. Monday.

It’s forecasted to rise above flood stage by Saturday, March 23, and continue to rise to near 14.4 feet by Wednesday, March 27, with additional rises possible after that. These are levels not seen since record flooding in 1969, Hill said. At stages near 14 feet, the water reaches the bottom of bridges on 473rd Avenue and 475th Avenue.

Hill warned that a weather system could come to the area on Saturday and produce a quarter-inch to half-inch of precipitation.

Below, images courtesy of Brookings County:

These Volga, Bruce and Brookings area maps were clipped from several recent FEMA draft floodplain maps that were developed for areas that had some previously mapped zones, but also for areas that had not been mapped for flood risk before. A blue zone indicates an existing 100-year floodplain that is not going to be revised when the new maps go into effect, and the red zone is newly identified 100-year floodplain. Any green zones indicate an area that has had its flood risk reduced. Thus, the red and blue zones on the maps indicate the 100-year floodplain areas and should be considered the most at-risk areas; and green zones are areas of slighter flood risk.