REGIONAL— Several area rivers remained in flood stage this week even as water levels were gradually receding from heavy rains that fell last week. The heavy rains, as much as four inches in parts of the region, put an end to the drought conditions experienced earlier in the year.
The impact of the recent rain was dramatic on area streams, which had begun the season at near-record low levels due to the lack of a snowpack, which sharply limited spring runoff.
The Little Fork River, which is highly influenced by rainfall, remained in flood stage as of Monday, with a flow of 8,340 cubic feet per second, or cfs. That was well up over the previous week’s flow of 3,070 cfs, which was already above average for this time of year due to prior rainfall.
The Vermilion River, which had experienced below average flow so far this spring, saw levels jump dramatically this week, from 1,170 cfs to 3,030 cfs, pushing the river into flood stage. The water levels on the Vermilion River are heavily impacted by the discharge from Lake Vermilion over the Vermilion Dam and that discharge rose quickly in the wake of last week’s rains.
John Niemeste, of Aronson Boat Works, estimates that Lake Vermilion rose close to 12 inches in the wake of the rain and appeared to still be rising as of this week. While lake levels have been rebounding over the past several weeks, Niemeste said the pace of the rise this week was unusual. Despite the recent rebound, Niemeste said the lake levels are now about where they should be this time of year. “It was pretty scary when the ice went out,” recalled Niemeste, noting that he had never seen such low levels that time of year. “I felt we weren’t going to make it through the summer. Now, I think we will,” he said.
Meanwhile, up at the border, the Rainy River saw its flow more than triple during the week, from 13,800 cfs as of May 20, to 41,200 cfs as of Monday. That left the Rainy River with the second-highest flow of any river in Minnesota this week, second only to the Mississippi River at Winona.