The City of Waterville is experiencing the worst flooding event on record, according to city and Le Sueur County officials on Sunday.

The update came alongside a tour of the flood-ravaged town by U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, beginning the steps to assess for federal disaster relief assistance.

“We are going to put our shoulder into doing everything we can to make sure that the federal government is a good partner with the state to help you recover from this,” Sen. Smith said, at a press conference ahead of the tour.

“This is from all accounts, as we talk with people here locally, the largest flooding event that Waterville has experienced,” said Le Sueur County Commissioner David Preisler.

Mayor Bill Conlin estimated about five to six times more properties have been impacted by the water in the last week compared to the number affected during a “normal” flooding event in the city.

“I’m not even sure on that number, but it’s so much more of our properties that have never flooded are underwater right now,” he continued.

Detours were frequent throughout town with several roads underwater. The water covering Paquin St. E about a block from City Hall near S 4th Street was the highest it’s ever been on Sunday, Mayor Conlin noted.

It was unclear when the water levels on the two lakes surrounding the city and the Canon River running through it will peak and start to recede again, “but it’s not going to be in the next couple of days,” he said.

“The infrastructure is working fine…Everything is clear, the water is flowing; It’s just too much water.”

In the meantime, crews like 17-year-old Cody Akemann and friends piled up newly filled sandbags into trucks and unloaded them throughout town.

“If you make it fun and get a whole lot of people to do it, it goes by fast,” Akemann said en route to a nearby home.

They were just one crew among at 1,000 volunteers in the last week who’ve filled 60,000 sandbags to disperse in town.

If the city needs anything right now, it’s more volunteers, the mayor emphasized.

He was just about certain the the city will ultimately qualify for federal relief money, it’s just a matter of tallying up the loss and putting it paper.

Officials asked the public to limit traffic in town to essential business and volunteer efforts.

The latest updates for residents can be located on the Le Sueur County Emergency Management Facebook page, they added.