MINNESOTA, USA — As storms rolled through the Twin Cities again during the Fourth of July on Thursday, Mollie Shields of Bloomington felt a little rain fatigue.
"Never thought you'd say no more rain," Shields said, "but we're definitely at that point right now."
Although Shields said her garden looks fantastic, she also knows the rain this summer has taken a toll on the Minnesota River, which runs right through her hometown. Parts of the Minnesota nearly matched or surpassed records set during the infamous flood of 1965.
"It's a lot of water," Shields said, standing along the flooded river at the Cedar Avenue bridge. "We've had a lot of rain."
This week's rain event certainly won't help, but as KARE 11 meteorologist Ben Dery explains, it's not going to have nearly the same kind of impact.
Compared to earlier rainfalls this summer, these latest storms aren't nearly as stationary.
"They're not just sitting over one place for hours on end," Dery said. "What this rain is going to do with this next round, this one to two inches or so, it's going to keep those water levels rather high. You probably won't see the big rivers rise again, but it's just going to slow down the water exiting the area."
According to National Weather Service data, the water levels have receded considerably in recent days. The Minnesota River at Savage, for example, has dropped nearly five feet, taking the river from major to minor flood stage. Those trends are projected to continue over the course of the next week.
"Thankfully, this isn't snowmelt followed by heavy rain," Dery said. "It's leaving much more quickly. We're talking about days of flooding instead of weeks like we would see in a typical spring flood."
The rest of the summer is expected to be more dry, too.
"I hope so," Mollie Shields said. "Hoping for some good beach days coming up."
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