6 reported dead in floods in southeastern Minnesota

WINONA, MINN. -- Flooding of potentially historic proportions swept across the southeastern boot of Minnesota on Sunday, killing at least six people, displacing hundreds and washing away roads, railroad tracks and homes.

More rain was expected overnight, today and into this week, threatening even more destruction and compounding the misery for thousands who fled their ruined and water-logged homes for higher ground.

Some of the preliminary and unofficial rainfall totals reported to the National Weather Service could exceed the Minnesota single-day rainfall record of 10.84 inches set at Fort Ripley on July 22, 1972. One observer near the Winona County town of Witoka reported 17 inches Saturday into Sunday.

"It's been to the point of overwhelming," said Dave Belz, deputy director of emergency management for Winona County.

Just north of Witoka, two people died after they were the second vehicle to plunge into a 25-foot pit after a road had washed away, officials said.

The rain started about 11 p.m. Saturday and continued through the night, swamping Hwy. 17, just north of Witoka, said Bob Reinert, Winona County administrator.

South of Stockton, one of the hardest-hit communities, two people drowned on County Hwy. 23 after their car was "washed off the road and the ensuing current carried the vehicle away," Reinert said.

Two men also were killed in separate flood-related incidents on Houston County roads. By Sunday night, authorities identified the victims as David T. Blackburn of Spring Grove, Minn., and David R. Ask, of Houston, Minn. Blackburn died in La Crescent Township; Ask in Mound Prairie Township.

Earlier in the evening, authorities had mistakenly reported that the person who died in La Crescent Township was a man from La Crosse, Wis. That man and his son had been stuck in Hokah overnight Saturday and had been out of contact with relatives. They returned to La Crosse safely Sunday afternoon.

Belz said authorities are checking with emergency shelters in an attempt to locate several people who are still missing.

County officials won't begin assessing damage until today.

"We've barely gotten out of rescue mode," Belz said.

By Sunday afternoon, the National Guard had sent 240 soldiers and two helicopters to Winona and the surrounding area to help with security.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty visited the region and declared a state of emergency in six counties: Winona, Wabasha, Fillmore, Houston, Steele, and Olmsted.

Ten state and U.S. highways in the area were closed at times Sunday due to water, mudslides and damage. Drivers should expect to encounter some closures today.

The flooding also led Amtrak to put Twin Cities-bound passengers from points east on buses instead of trains. Riders were expected to arrive almost an hour after their scheduled arrival.

"You can't believe the washouts and the mudslides," said Shirley Van Gundy, 73, who grew up along the Root River and now lives in Houston, a town of about 1,000 residents that was evacuated Sunday afternoon. "It's all over. I know what floods are, and this is the worst."

Because of the topography -- rolling farmland and limestone bluffs -- southeastern Minnesota and southwestern Wisconsin are particularly prone to flash flooding. Heavy rain from uplands to low areas can convert streams and rivers into thundering torrents.

Van Gundy said the rain started at about 7 a.m. Saturday and continued throughout the day. "And then after midnight it just poured," she said.

Said Glen Jostad of Brownsville: "It never quit ... The thunder and lightning, it just kept on all night long."

Now stationary, the system is expected to drop up to another 3 inches of rain across a wide reach of southeastern Minnesota and southwestern Wisconsin into today.

On the move

Because more rain was forecast, residents throughout Winona and Houston counties were heading for safer ground. By late afternoon, authorities had issued a mandatory evacuation order for the city of Houston in response to the rapidly rising Root River. The river had risen to 19 feet, about a foot short of what the dike protecting the town would hold.

"The current is so swift and the pressure is so strong you never know," Van Gundy said.

Residents of the Houston nursing home were taken to the nearby city of Caledonia. Others just bailed.

"What they're afraid of is if they don't leave now, then we won't be able to get to them if they want us later," said Houston County sheriff's dispatcher Sandee Feuerhelm.

By late Sunday, people living downstream or nearby in La Crescent, Hokah and Brownsville were encouraged to leave, too. In some cases, their exits were blocked by mudslides and washed out roads. Phone service and power was interrupted in spots throughout the region.

"I thought, 'Should I go or should I stay?'" said Jostad, 84, who has lived in Brownsville for 61 years.

At one point, a mudslide blocked the entrance to Jostad's mobile home park. After a neighbor cleared it with a front-end loader, Jostad hopped into his car and drove 14 miles to stay with his daughter in Caledonia. North of Brownsville, three houses slid off foundations and down the hillside "and are sitting in the middle of the road," Jostad said. "There's a lot of devastation here."

In Stockton, floodwaters dislodged propane tanks from some homes. Electrical power there was turned off to avoid the possibility that a tank could come into contact with a downed power line, Reinert said.

Several residents narrowly escaped, and the National Guard later went door to door to check for anybody who might be trapped.

One resident escaped with his wife and two children by punching a hole in his attic and crawling on the rooftop, where the family was rescued.

Roger Oldham, his wife Bonnie and her mother also scrambled to the roof of their Stockton home, only to have floodwaters sweep the house from its foundation.

Belz said a Winona County deputy's squad car was overwhelmed by high water and the department's dive rescue team had to rescue the deputy.

In Elba, several fire trucks couldn't pass through high water along Fairwater Drive and were delayed in reaching a burning shed a half-mile away while residents paddled in boats nearby.

And in Minnesota City, just northwest of Winona, authorities ran short of boats and residents used their own crafts to help with rescue efforts.

At one point, Brenda Svendsen and her two teenage sons gave up waiting for rescue workers when water was knee high on the first floor of their house. By the time they got into the street, the rushing water was chest high, and soon Svendsen was swept off her feet.

The family made it across the street to a neighbor's driveway and later to a shelter at St. Mary's University in Winona.

Worst 'in my lifetime'

Outside the small towns, the devastation was just as complete.

"This is the worst I've seen in my lifetime," said Jerry Heim, a Winona County commissioner. A surge of water washed down a county road in the Whitewater River valley, blowing out campgrounds, flipping RVs into trees and ripping trees from the ground.

Campers fled the nearby Whitewater State Park at 11 p.m. Saturday. Some returned Sunday to recover what was left, pulling muddy lawn chairs and coolers from bushes and trees.

A steady crowd of gawkers wandered up and down County Road 74 along the camping area, stopping in Elba, which was still impassable Sunday evening.

Dave Hamel, who owns a private campground just outside Whitewater State Park, surveyed the mess Sunday afternoon, wondering how two RVs from a neighboring campground ended up on his property.

He said a smaller flood last spring washed mud across his property, but he cleaned it up and got on with his summer business.

"This one broke my spirit," he said.

In the St. Charles area, residents such as beef farmer Ralph Kaehler said they recall nothing like this since the early 1970s, when flooding killed some residents in nearby Viola.

But even that flooding was not as bad as this, Kaehler said.

He said the doors to a local nursing home, where 80 people had been evacuated, stood open Sunday morning, with water rushing out of the building.

"It looks like it's sitting in the middle of a big lake right now," Kaehler said.

While many residents stayed with relatives or friends, others took refuge in Red Cross shelters at St. Mary's University in Winona, St. Charles High School and the town of Nodine.

Of immediate concern was the forecast for continuing rain. In less than 24 hours, small lakes have sprung up throughout much of the region, forcing cattle to higher ground and swamping acres of farmland. In low-lying areas, only the tops of corn tassels protrude from 6 feet of water. Uncounted acres of corns and soybeans were washed away on the farmland bordering the Whitewater River, Kaehler said.

Kaehler said that while farmers are facing financial losses, the people of Stockton and Elba have it worse. "You get called out of your house. You lose all your photos and physical possessions," he said. "You can't replace that."

Staff writers Bill McAuliffe, Joy Powell, Matt McKinney and Tom Ford contributed to this report.