Wet October pushing some Minnesota rivers over their banks

A rainy October is pushing some Minnesota rivers over their banks and making them too hazardous for boating.

The National Weather Service in Chanhassen issued flood advisories for parts of the Minnesota River at Montevideo and along the Crow River at Rockford, Delano and Mayer, west of the Twin Cities.

The flooding is minor, affecting lowland areas near the rivers that include some gravel roads and parkland, said Craig Schmidt, weather service hydrologist.

Those rivers and others also are running faster than normal, making it dangerous for boating, he said. People should stay off those rivers, he added.

Rainfall in central and western Minnesota was 2 to 3 inches above normal this summer, Schmidt said. Although September was drier than normal, more than 3 inches of rain in October surpassed the usual 1 inch of rain for this period, he said.

"All that rain happened at a time when all of our plant life has pretty much stopped absorbing any water, and so we have a lot more water going into the soil that got saturated pretty quickly and then it ran off into the rivers," Schmidt said. Some of the wetlands and marsh areas were already pretty full from the summer rains, he added.

Although rain is in the forecast this weekend, it shouldn't amount to much. Most of the rivers should retreat back to their banks by early next week, Schmidt said.