Flood Watch: Kayaking in Mankato

Michelle Parsneau lives about five blocks from the Minnesota River in downtown Mankato. She'll be giving us occasional updates on what's going on in her community. All photos taken by Michelle.

The weather continued to be gorgeous and sunny. This is quite odd. Two weeks ago, the snow was up to my knees in the front yard, with piles of snow on every street corner, making crossing the street a bit hazardous. Now, there is no snow at all in my yard. It is just gone. The ground is actually more solid and less squishy than yesterday. Looking out my front door, nothing looks at all out of the ordinary. There are no visible preparations for flooding, or anything of the sort in my neighborhood. I continue to receive e-mails from the city regarding trail closures, county road closures, and procedures that officials are following as they watch both the river and the flood wall.

Kayakers in the Minnesota River at Mankato.

At about 5:30 yesterday, I headed downtown to the river to see if anything was happening there. I saw much more foot traffic than usual, as people want to see what is going on. As I checked out the brand new Riverfront Park, I was lucky enough to see people kayaking down the fast moving river. They came out at the closed canoe access point, so I asked them a few questions. They kayak regularly in the area, and were obviously excited about getting the opportunity to experience the river at this height and speed. They had a really hard time gauging how fast they were traveling, compared to normal conditions, saying that it had to be at least 15 miles per hour. They had been to Land of Memories Park, earlier in the day, kayaking above trails, campsites, and recreation areas that are usually on solid ground. The park has been fully closed, and they said it was quite the experience to be kayaking there.

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