Browns Valley staying dry despite leaky diversion channel

Browns Valley, on Minnesota's western border, was flooded badly in 2007, and has been working on a diversion project since then. Floodwaters again threatened the city near the South Dakota border this week, but things would have been a lot worse without a diversion channel that was built to control the level of the Little Minnesota River.

Homes and businesses in the city stayed dry this time, although an ice jam forced water to blow a large hole to the diversion channel. Water washed away about 1,800 square feet of an embankment and about 25 feet of roadway. You can read more about the town's fight against the floodwaters, and listen to an interview with Browns Valley Mayor Jeff Backer, here.