Jennifer Wilking has lived in St. Peter all her life, but the community still finds ways to surprise her.
On June 25, Wilking was one of several homeowners on Front Street to feel the brunt of rising waters during last week’s flooding event. As water pumped into her basement through her floor drains, Wilking reached out to her family for help in sandbagging her home as a preventative measure against any potential overflows from the nearby Minnesota River.
She considers herself relatively fortunate. While she didn’t come out of the flood unscathed, Wilking noted that she was lucky to have a sump pump on hand right away and the assistance of her family. But across the street, next to the Minnesota riverbanks, Wilking saw that her neighbors were in the direct path of the overflow.
Upon hearing that a neighbor’s dike had been breached and water was filtering into his garage past his existing barricade of sandbags, Wilking and her family leapt into action shoveling piles of sand into plastic bags to build a flood-proof fortress around her neighbor’s home. But Wilking and her family weren’t alone. Fellow neighbor Heather Tollefson spread the word on Facebook through the Saint Peter page and within minutes over 20-30 volunteers showed up to help.
“I had always known St. Peter was a great place and when you need a hand they’d always be there for you, but boy do they come quick,” said Wilking. “It is unbelievable. And they were there until we stopped whatever water had breached his wall. They’re ready to work and it seriously is incredible.”
The community effort brought together volunteers of all ages. Adults worked alongside players from the St. Peter High School football team, who took off a day from their regular practice to put in a different kind of workout, shoveling bags of sand. Even children as young as 12 and 7 years old joined in, holding sandbags in traffic cones while the adults scooped the dirt in.
“It wasn’t an emergency situation, so just having the patience to allow these kids to experience this and to get that good, volunteer community spirit learning that they got from this, I hope they never forget having to sandbag because it is something that will stick with them,” said Nikki Tish, who brought her two young children to aid in the sandbagging.
After finishing the sandbag wall, volunteers moved on to another nearby home which was in need of protection.
Even local businesses got involved in the flood prevention efforts. Family Fresh Market donated lunch to the volunteers while Willy’s Inc. of St Peter and 507 Outdoor Services provided free sand.
The grassroots push to protect local homes was a testament to how the St. Peter community rallied in the face of a historic flooding event. Following a torrent of heavy rains which inundated the St. Peter area with 3.5 inches of rainfall in just four days, water levels on the Minnesota River began to steadily climb during late June.
Within just one week starting on June 19, the Minnesota River rose by 10 feet before cresting at 762.5 feet on June 26.
Downstream in Mankato, the Minnesota River was recorded having the third highest crest in over a century at 29.74 feet. The waters were rivaled in height only by a 30.11 foot crest recorded on June 21, 1993 and a 29.9 foot crest on April 26, 1881.
The impacts of one of the rainiest Junes on record could be felt in the unusual silence that swept across downtown St. Peter as routes in and out of town were closed to traffic. MNDOT initiated road closures around St. Peter starting with the Highway 99 bridge on June 21, as waters were predicted to seep over the roadway. That prediction came true and the waters have yet to recede from the bridge as of Tuesday, July 2.
Both northbound lanes on Highway 169 at the north end of St. Peter were subsequently closed and traffic was redirected to the southbound lane for approximately two miles. Then on June 24 another route to St. Peter, Highway 22, was closed to traffic. By Tuesday, June 25, Highway 169 leading north to Le Sueur and south to Mankato were both shut down to traffic, leaving the once bustling downtown route almost completely empty of vehicles.
For better or worse, it wasn’t long until Hwy. 169 was roaring with thousands of drivers as 169 from Mankato to St. Peter opened on June 27 alongside the northbound lane between St. Peter and Le Sueur.
While life in St. Peter is starting to return to normalcy, businesses off Highway 99 are still waiting for the waters to recede before they can reopen. Both Neisen’s Riverside Sports Bar and Wing King Minnesota were caught in the middle of the flood as the Minnesota River seeped into their respective parking lots. Nevertheless, the restaurants are aiming to reopen as soon as possible, with Wing King scheduled to reopen its doors the week after the Fourth of July.
The Nicollet County Treaty Site History Center also announced the facility would be reopening on Tuesday, July 2 after waters flooding into the parking lot kept the museum closed to visitors. Staff shared in a social media post that the inside of the building had remained dry and that the Treaty Site would be back to normal business soon.
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