Upper Mississippi River towns prepare for flooding

Iowa cities along the Upper Mississippi River are bracing for what could be a record or near-record spring flood.

At Guttenberg, where the risk of the Mississippi reaching the 21-foot major flood stage is pegged at 78 percent, “people are definitely talking about it,” said City Manager Barry Dykhuizen.

“We have a lot of confidence in our levee,” which was built after the record 1965 flood to withstand river levels to 29 feet, he said.

At McGregor, where the risk of the river reaching the 23-foot major flood stage is pegged at 86 percent, youth group volunteers filled 600 sandbags on Wednesday, and inmates from the nearby Luster Heights Correctional Facility will be coming in next week to fill more, said City Clerk Lynette Sander.

A major flood stage at Guttenberg would put the road to Essman and Abel islands, two residential areas just upstream from Guttenberg, under 2 feet of water. The city has already stationed a firetruck there in case the road becomes impassable, Dykhuisen said.

The major flood stage in McGregor would submerge streets and railroad tracks and require sandbagging of numerous commercial buildings, Sander said.

“Additional snowfall with little melting has continued to increase the already above-normal snowpack across Minnesota and Wisconsin,” leading to “an increased risk of major flooding” along the Mississippi, the National Weather Service reported Thursday in its third spring flooding outlook of the season.

The spring snowmelt flood potential along Eastern Iowa tributary rivers is generally near normal to slightly greater than normal, the Weather Service said.

Along the Mississippi, there is “a very high likelihood for flooding at least reaching the moderate level. Major or even record flooding is very possible,” according to the Weather Service office in La Crosse, Wis.

During the first half of March, the forecast for the La Crosse region calls for below-normal temperatures and above-normal precipitation – “not the optimal scenario for reducing flood risk this spring,” the Weather Service said.

The greater than normal snowpack across southern Minnesota and west-central Wisconsin has combined with near-record soil moisture in those same regions to enhance this spring's flood risk, according to the Weather Service.

In contrast, the Weather Service said much of the snowpack across Eastern Iowa has melted since mid –February, resulting in a slight decrease in flood probability since the Weather Service's last out look on Feb. 17.

The flood potential will greatly depend on the rate of snowmelt in those regions and the volume of precipitation during the next two months, the Weather Service said.

The risk of the Mississippi reaching flood stage at Dubuque was 49 percent greater than normal in Thursday's outlook – the same as it was three weeks ago.

However, the outlook also said the chance of the Mississippi reaching major flood stage ranged from 88 percent at Bellevue to 96 percent at the Quad Cities and Burlington.

Along the Cedar River, the risk of flooding increased from 19 percent greater than normal to 24 percent at Vinton and from 25 percent to 27 percent at Cedar Rapids.

The risk of flooding on the Iowa River at Marengo decreased from 17 percent greater than normal to 14 percent and remained at near normal in Iowa City.

As of 1 p.m. Thursday, the Mississippi stood at the slightly elevated levels of 9.15 feet at Lansing, 11.16 feet at McGregor, 9.59 feet at Guttenberg and 10.97 feet at Dubuque.

In Guttenberg, the record crest, 23.65 feet, occurred on April 24, 1965. The river reached its second-highest mark there, 21.68 feet, on April 21, 2001. McGregor recorded its two highest levels, 25.38 feet and 23.75 feet, on or about those same dates.