NEW RICHLAND, Minn. — New Richland in southern Minnesota is under a state of emergency after parts of the city flooded.
About 4 to 5 inches of rain fell in the city of 1,230 people in less than eight hours Thursday morning.
A press release from the city said that the rain event, coupled with rapid snow melt, saturated the ground.
"Since that time, they have been working non-stop with our county, emergency management and other partners to ease the impact on the system," read the release.
Mayor Chad Neitzel declared the state of emergency Thursday morning.
According to city administrator Anthony Martens, dozens of homes have basements that are flooded. Some, he said, may have sewage leakage.
Residents say their morning started off with a surprise.
"Our baseball diamond is underwater," said Desiree Medrano, who lives nearby a flooded field.
"It came up so fast — it was kind of unexpected," said Alex Wagner, who grew up in the area. He said something like this happens every other year.
Amber Lewer has a small wall of sandbags protecting her business from the rising creek. A small army of community members built it.
"That's huge to us," said Lewer, who said dozens of high schoolers came to help build the wall.
Officials said they will continue to monitor the situation.
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