Caves, roads and fields flooded in southern Minnesota after heavy weekend rains

It is looking more like a miniature Niagara Falls inside the Niagara Cave in Harmony, Minn., where an underground waterfall was putting on a special show Monday.

Unfortunately, guests paying a visit to the attraction won’t be able to see it up close. The waterfall, the “Wishing Well,” and some passageways inside the limestone cave were inaccessible Monday following heavy rains that had water gushing through the popular tourist site.

“It’s quite the experience,” said manager Aaron Bishop, whose parents own the cave.

Between 3 to 6 inches of rain fell across Fillmore County over the past three days, the National Weather Service said. Water flowing into the cave normally drains into the Upper Iowa River, but with river levels and the water table so high, it has been unable to flow out.

“I got my hip waders on today,” Bishop said. “We could have done with a little less” rain, he added.

Tours continued Monday, but Bishop said people who could come on a different day should.

Bishop said there was no damage, but “it created a bit of a mess.”

In the Twin Cities metro, 3 to 5 inches fell in a line from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport through Minneapolis to the University of Minnesota area, said NWS meteorologist Joe Strus.

“Where it rained, it poured,” he said.

Waseca may have received the most. Early totals put rain gauges at over 9 inches. Standing water was visible Monday in farm fields, and a few roads were closed. Water was reported in some basements, said Waseca Police Chief Kris Markeson.

There were some hot spots for public works to deal with, but “we’re not floating away,” he said Monday while looking at a dry sidewalk outside his office.

In Austin in Mower County, street flooding continued Monday, but water levels had dropped quite a bit after reaching as high as car doors Sunday, including in the city’s downtown, the Police Department said.

The drenching pattern is expected to break Monday, and dry conditions are expected the rest of the week, Strus said. One small chance for rain will come Thursday, “but nothing heavy,” he said.

Temperatures will cool down into the 70s by the weekend.

“We will be in good shape for the State Fair,” Strus said.