Despite what you may have heard, Wabasha is not under water.
Torrential rains soaked this Mississippi River town last week, just like everywhere else in Minnesota. But when the sun came out this weekend, the tourists stayed away, alarmed by reports on the Weather Channel and in the papers that warned that the river was above flood stage and rising.
"Above flood stage" isn't the same as "flooded," but still, people canceled weekend plans in Wabasha and Bald Eagle Day at the National Eagle Center in Wabasha attracted far fewer visitors than expected, said Cheri Wright, executive director of the Wabasha-Kellogg Chamber of Commerce.
"Flooding? No, and where?" said Wright, who drove to the Twin Cities this weekend without hitting any high water. "I'm on Main Street and I'm wearing open-toed shoes."
Monday morning, the chamber sent out a press release with the headline: Wabasha Is Not Flooded. Some of the low-lying areas by the river are getting soaked, she said, but not any part of the downtown or any of the major roads.
Still, the calls about flooding were coming in and the visitors weren't.
"I thought it would just blow over, kind of like a bad Kardashian rumor, but it hasn't," Wright said. "We just don't have any flooding."
