2014 MCWD Flood Report

In the spring and early summer of 2014, the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District (District) experienced a record amount of precipitation resulting in various flooding issues throughout the District. The late winter snow pack and ice out were coupled with record precipitation between January 1 and June 30 to create record stream flows, record high water levels, various street flooding events, land flooding issues, stormwater infrastructure issues, and over $1 million worth of damages along the six main streams of the District. An overview of the flooding across the District can be viewed in Map 1. Damages from slope failures, erosion, failing stormwater infrastructure, and flooding of backyards resulted in over 300 phone calls to the District related to high water and dam operations, over 40 permits related to the high water or flood damages, and hundreds of staff hours fielding questions from the public and media, surveying the flood damage and assessing the extent of the damage. The District's role during the flooding was to coordinate information and collect data. Establishing itself as an information broker allowed the District to efficiently disseminate information to local communities and Hennepin County Emergency Management, which allowed them to provide direct emergency response and assistance. As a result of this historic event, the District has aggregated all of the information gathered and has summarized it within this report. The District plans to leverage the information within this report, along with the experiences gained during the flooding event, to memorialize protocols and procedures to be implemented during a future flood event.