SAINT PAUL, Minn — A stretch of Water Street in St. Paul will soon be closed because of the rising Mississippi River.
With a street name like Water, it's no surprise that its nearly annual shutdown is here with a year like this.
Starting at 11 p.m. on Wednesday night, Water Street/Lilydale Road and Lilydale Regional Park will temporarily close.
Randy Graff with Saint Paul Parks and Rec is trying to keep people out of potentially dangerous spots. The Mississippi River is expected to crest this weekend at 14 feet. It has three more feet to go.
"We've started doing some park closures throughout our system," said Graff. "Really low lying trails throughout our system have been affected by the level of the river right now."
Nearby, the Pool and Yacht Club is planning to close Saturday. They don't expect this season to look like last year, when their ramp and pool became part of the river.
"We're way above normal here in the Twin Cities, about four inches above normal for the year," said Pete Boulay, assistant state climatologist for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
Boulay says Minnesota has been getting a lot of water, and it has to go somewhere.
"The ground can't take much more moisture," said Boulay. "So it has to run into the rivers."
He says this brings relief to the state, too.
"In the Twin Cities so far to date, we're the 12 wettest year on record," said Boulay. "Wettest year since 2019. Definitely something where we haven't seen it a couple years."
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