Flooding fallout: Water restrictions, closures and other updates

Update on June 23:

Several streets in the city of Sioux Falls have reopened, including:

• 57th Street at the I-229 tunnel
• Cliff Avenue at the I-229 exit
• 12th Street at La Mesa Avenue (near Sertoma Avenue)
• Louise Avenue between 41st and 49th streets

The city of Sioux Falls asked residents to limit water use Saturday after days of heavy rain led to flooding across the region.

“This has been a challenging and really unpredictable weather event,” Mayor Paul TenHaken said at a city briefing Saturday morning. “When the ground gets this saturated as it has because of all the rain we’ve had … situations just change really quickly and that was the case here.”

Sioux Falls received between 6.5 and 8 inches of rain in the last 72 hours, he said.

The National Weather Service is reporting parts of Lincoln Country received as much as 17 inches in three days.

By Friday night, the city’s wastewater treatment plant was at capacity, prompting the city to divert 34 million gallons into storage and ultimately forcing the city to discharge untreated wastewater into the Big Sioux River for the first time since 2010.

“That is always our last resort and we’ve run these systems as long as we can,” director of public works Mark Cotter said.

“This is a very uncommon event for us … the large storage systems that we’ve built for days like this have also been great assets for us up until this point.”

The wastewater flow was about four times what the city normally has to manage, he said.

That’s prompting the city to ask residents to take steps for the foreseeable future to limit use, including:

Some roads within the city of Sioux Falls are closed, including:

• 12th Street from Sertoma to LaMesa Avenue.
• Madison Street at LaMesa Avenue

Here’s a map of current closures in the area.

The hope is that roads can be relatively back to normal by the Monday morning commute, Cotter said.

Not surprisingly, the water at Falls Park is significant. If you go to see it, be careful not to get too close to the water, follow the signs and don’t climb on wet rocks.

“Be really safe around the Falls,” TenHaken emphasized, adding Saturday morning he saw people wading in the river there.

“Mother Nature is very strong … I can’t stress enough it’s a very dangerous part of our community … I would just ask you to be careful if you do go down there.”

The city performed nine rescues in the last 24 hours and had reports of 30 stalled vehicles, emergency manager Regan Smith said. Thirteen city parks are closed Saturday. All pools are open except Drake Springs. The Great Plains Zoo is open, the Butterfly House & Aquarium is closed and the Caille branch library is closed. Residents are asked to stay off the recreation trail as parts of it are flooded and other parts are being used by pumps.

Interstate 29 is detoured south of Sioux Falls as of Friday night:

Lincoln County is reporting that “many roads in the county are underwater,” according to the Sheriff’s Department.

“Deputies and local fire departments have responded to a number of motorist assists, accidents and rescues early this morning. The Lincoln County Highway Department and local city street departments are hard at work doing what they can, placing barricades and checking road conditions.”

The city of Lennox is asking residents to limit water use because of emergency flooding.

“Multiple roadways in and around Lennox are flooded and in some cases impassable,” according to the city. “Crews are working to keep the wastewater plant and collection system operating, but pumps are having difficulty keeping up.”

Turner County is advising no travel after 5 inches of rain fell in the past 24 hours.

“Many roads in Turner County are flooded,” according to the Sheriff’s Office. “Crews are attempting to mark each and every place the water has crossed the road. It is going to take some time. If you must go somewhere, be prepared to detour and do not cross flooded roads.”

Wild Water West also reported it’s closed Friday because of flooding.

Interstate 90 is closed in Minnesota from Luverne to Worthington.

In the city of Sioux Falls, the following parks are closed as of 9:30 a.m. Friday because of flash flooding:

• Cherry Rock
• Farm Field
• Family
• Legacy
• Pasley
• Rotary
• Spencer
• Tuthill
• Yankton Trail
• Family

Several sections of the recreation trail also are closed. Closures are marked by barricades.

“Residents are asked to avoid walking, riding or driving through any water,” the city said in a statement. “Floodwaters are dangerous and can lead to serious injury.”