DELANO, Minn. — The city of Delano is preparing once again for river flooding. Like many cities and towns near rivers, it says it deals with its rising levels every year.
However, this year, after an ice jam caused a sudden spike in the water level, they have brought out the flood walls.
The shiny new flood walls brought a crowd out to the Crow river on Saturday. Bridge Avenue near downtown was closed while the river took center stage.
The Crow helped build the city. Now people are highly focused on its rising levels.
"Yes, that's exactly what I was doing," Patsy Six said. "I was taking pictures to take back to Indiana to show my family in Indiana." Six is visiting her niece Rebecca Matthews in Delano. She took a close look at both sides of the bridge to see what river flooding looks like up-close.
Everyone couldn't take their eyes off the rushing currents. The fight between bridge and debris was a good one each time. Many people had their phones out, taking videos of big debris eventually getting sucked under the bridge--giving into the current.
"It's exciting to watch the water and the branches just flow down," Travis Fleitman said. He said he was out with his two young daughters and they had asked him to stop when they saw the construction.
For now the Crow river is the talk of the town but for many, it's fact of life.
"It's like the sun coming up, it happens every year," Matthews said. "Some years it's worse than others."
Just on Friday, the city had a small scare due to the ice jams. They thought now would be an appropriate time to bring out the newly engineered flood walls. A big development since 2014.
"We installed the wall in about 90 minutes," Phil Kern said. Kern is the city administrator. "In the past, it would take us a couple days to build a clay levee and deal with the dirt and mud that comes along with it."
Kern explained that through the help from the state, they were able to switch over to flood walls in 2015. This was the first time they had actually implemented them.
The city says it usually brings out flood walls when the river is at 20 feet.