In mid-August 2007, Congressman Tim Walz was preparing to head on a congressional visit to Iraq. The Post Bulletin reported:
U.S. Rep. Tim Walz got up early on Sunday, Aug. 19. He was heading to Iraq and wanted to finish packing for the trip.
Given that the day before, Walz had just attended the funeral and burial in the rain of a Mankato area soldier killed in Iraq, the trip must have seemed a somber duty. It was not to be . . .
But those plans would soon be disrupted by news of the massive flooding in southeast Minnesota. . . .
The disaster marks a critical moment for Walz, a first-term Democratic congressman from Mankato who has held office for only eight months. The seven counties now under a federal disaster declaration all fall within his congressional district. How government and its leaders respond to natural or made-made disasters can make or break a politician.
Since the flooding, Walz has made virtually daily visits to the flood zone -- at least six visits in the first week alone. Along with the state's two senators, Walz lobbied for an expedited disaster declaration, so that federal dollars could start flowing to flood victims.
Within hours, Walz was heading east toward flood-stricken areas, his trip to Iraq canceled.
Seven years and a slightly different district later--with calamitous flooding in 2010 in between--Walz is contemplating a need to develop new descriptions of summer floods. In Faribault flooding update: Water is receding, sun is shining, Faribault Daily News' Jaci Smith reports:
Sporting T-shirts, jeans and workboots, U.S. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., and Rep. Tim Walz, D-Mankato, visited Faribault’s water reclamation facility to peer at dirt.
It was likely a relief to the two politicians, who probably spent most of their day staring at water in the heavily flooded southwestern part of the state.
In Faribault, the two examined the earthen berm built quickly on Wednesday by city staff in response to the rising Straight River. In 2010, the river overcame the facility, forcing it to shut down and resulting in untreated wastewater entering the water way.
“Well, now that we know that these are not 500-year events we’re going to have to come up with a new name for them,” said Congressman Walz. He complimented the city on having the foresight to build the berm and make it permanent, likely saving taxpayers a costly cleanup bill.
It's a worthwhile consideration. In the Owatonna People's Press, Al Strain reports in Governor declares state of emergency as Steele County waters recede:
Though rainfall totals have been close to what the city experienced during the 2010 flood, Johnson said the damage is much less severe thanks to flood mitigation efforts that have gone on throughout town in the last four years.
“This flood is a little bit different for us,” Johnson said. “One of the good success stories is that we’re not doing a lot of protective measures and a lot of sandbagging because we’ve put some mitigation efforts with funding that we received from the state of Minnesota, the Department of Natural Resources and Homeland Security Emergency Management.”
Several retention ponds have been put in place, which help slow the water down and keep it out of neighborhoods. The city has also purchased a number of homes in the flood plain, turning them into green space that isn’t as heavily impacted when the area floods.
“What’s different between now and 2010 is we didn’t have to put resources into sandbagging for going through and protecting those areas,” Johnson said.
Let's hope that resources can be found for future flood mitigation efforts across Minnesota. As Walz notes, foresight saves money in the long run.
This year's rainfall events and floods are more widespread than those in 2007 and 2010; the counties declared disaster areas in 2007 were entirely inside the First Congressional District, while this year's emergencies cover 35 counties.
Walz's visits to disaster areas--from rural Rock County in far southwestern Minnesota where livestock and crops have drown, to Albert Lea and Faribault--illustrate the scope of the record-breaking rainfall.
Maybe those storm water retention ponds aren't such a bad idea after all.
Photo: A still image of the Highway 99 bridge at St. Peter from video taken today by St. Peter's Jon Smithers using an unmanned aerial vehicle. Via St. Peter Herald.
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