The Minnesota River is expected to crest at one to two feet above flood stage this Saturday.

The river reached flood stage on Sunday. Normally, the river ranges 8-15 feet below flood stage on the Chaska Public Works gauge, according to Tim Wiebe, public works superintendent. (At 8 feet below flood stage, the river is undergoing drought conditions.)

If the water were to reach five feet above flood conditions, as originally predicted, Athletic Park outfield gets wet.

Public Works crews have closed two of the city’s four flood gates, turning on pumps to shoot rainwater over the gates. Crews monitor the pumps a couple times a day, Wiebe said.

This is the second time the river has reached flood stage this year. The first was 1.15 feet above flood stage on May 10.

By comparison, the April flood of 1997, the river peaked at 13.74 feet above flood stage, and the April flood of 2001, the river peaked at 14.27 feet above flood stage.

The granddaddy of all Minnesota River floods, which occurred in 1965 and flooded out a good portion of Chaska, peaked at 16.25 feet above flood stage. This occurred before the levee system was built, protecting downtown Chaska.

June 11: 15.6

June 12: 16.23

June 13: 16.92

June 14: 17.7

June 15: 18:05 (reaches flood stage)

Chaska flood marks

Flood stage: Two of four Chaska water diversion flood gates are closed

1-2 feet above flood stage: Estimated crest for the latest flood

2 feet above flood stage: Courthouse flood gate is closed5 feet above flood stage: Athletic Park outfield gets wet

6 feet above flood stage: City’s final flood gate is closed

6.75 feet above Chaska’s flood stage: Highway 101 closes

7 feet above flood stage: Water reaches Athletic Park grandstand

9.5 feet above flood stage: Highway 41 closes

18 feet above flood stage: sandbagging necessary at Highway 41 and First Street bridges

23 feet above flood stage: Water tops downtown levees.

The National Weather Service has a hydrology station located at Jordan, a few miles up the Minnesota River.

As a rough way of estimating the river level at Chaska, go to the Weather Services Web site, subtract 2 feet from the river level measured at Jordan – and that will be the approximate level of the river in Chaska, two days later.

Source: Public Works Director Tim Wiebe