Flooding Causes Evacuations in Cannon Falls

Law enforcement officials are reporting ongoing flooding in Cannon Falls on the Cannon and Little Cannon Rivers.

The city of Cannon Falls is asking residents who live along the Cannon and Little Cannon Rivers to evacuate their homes.

The police department reports that the Little Cannon River rose about 39 inches since 2 a.m. The Cannon River rose 28 inches, which is a level not experienced since the September 2010 flood.

The Goodhue County Sheriff’s Office says about 10-12 homes have been affected and there may be more. All evacuations were voluntary.

The city's emergency management director, Jeff McCormick, says one house along the Little Cannon River and one business near where it converges with the Cannon River have been flooded so far.
    
He says they started asking people to evacuate early Friday because their houses were near rivers and roads that were flooded and were becoming isolated. The gas has also been shut off to the residences.

Crews have started sandbagging at several locations. The waters are receding but they will go back up when the dam at Lake Byllesby is opened.

Ongoing flooding was also reported in portions of southern Dakota County and in the Northfield area of Rice County. Rainfall of 8-10 inches fell before midnight from near Northfield to Cannon Falls and then toward the Red Wing area.

Last night, dozens of people had to be rescued when rising waters from the storm trapped them in their cars. The flooding happened near Hastings on one of the main roadways into the Treasure Island Resort and Casino.

There are still a few inches of water on the corner of 200th Street and Ravenna Trail. When the waters started rising, there were cars driving on the road, so fire fighters had to come and rescue the people inside.

Cars were pushed to the side of the street by the fast-moving water, and seven vehicles were stranded when the road turned into a river just after the storms around 11 last night.

A bus carrying 16 people and a driver also went into a ditch as it was traveling on Goodhue County 18 Boulevard toward Hastings. According to Treasure Island Resort and Casino, the bus was coming from the casino to St. Paul around 10:30 p.m. Thursday when the rising flood waters caused the bus to go into the ditch.  

After rescuers arrived, the passengers were transferred to a Treasure Island shuttle bus and brought back to the resort and casino around 12:50 a.m. along with four other people stuck in the ditch.

A total of 26 people had to be rescued in Hastings. Most were likely headed to or away from the Treasure Island Casino, which is only a few miles from that intersection.

According to the Hastings fire chief, there was major flash flooding for about a half mile in all directions when he got there. Some cars were submerged above their door handles.

This band of torrential rain was embedded in a broad area of five inches or more across much of northwest Rice County, the northern half of Goodhue County, and southern Dakota County.

Some locations that will experience flooding include Faribault, Red Wing, Bombay, Cannon Falls, Castle Rock, Dennison, Dundas, Frontenac, Goodhue, Hader, Hampton, Kenyon, Miesville, Nerstrand, New Trier, Northfield, Randolph, Ruskin, Stanton, Wanamingo, Wastedo, Webster, and Welch.

There is also wind damage reported between Kenyon, Pine City, and Zumbrota, specifically south of Highway 60 and along Highway 60 and 52. At least one home is severely damaged as well as small buildings and trees.