REGIONAL- Lakefront property owners at Crane Lake and Kabetogama continue battling the still-rising flood waters of the Rainy River Basin, flooding that immediately threatens to eclipse the highest mark recorded in over 70 years and could soon set a new all-time record.
The gauge at Crane Lake registered 1,122.55 feet on Tuesday morning at 9 a.m., an increase of about three inches since Saturday. Already nearly two feet higher than the flooding in 2014, Crane Lake was less than two inches shy of the high-water mark of 1950 on Tuesday, with the National Weather Service predicting continued rise through the weekend and the possibility of more rain.
And projections indicate that the flooding could possibly break the highest level ever recorded.
“This is a historic flood that has already exceeded the records set in 2014 and could approach setting all-time records,” Duluth National Weather Service office reported in a Monday update. “Namakan/Kabetogama Lake level is 1,121.4 feet, 15.3 inches above the peak level reached in 2014. The level of Namakan Lake is expected to rise by 6-7 inches over the next seven days. The peak may approach or exceed the record level (of) 1,122.8 feet set on May 23, 1916. A return to wet weather could see the level continuing to rise above this record.”
A tiny glimmer of hope can be found in the data about the amount of water flowing into the lakes, which took a downturn early in the week. However, the inflow was still about double what can get out.
“As of May 23, many of the major tributaries upstream like Basswood River, Vermilion River, and Kawishiwi River have crested and are beginning to slowly drop. However, this will only slow the rise of Namakan/Kabetogama and Rainy Lake,” the NWS said. “Continued rises are still anticipated in the coming days. It will take a long time for these levels to decrease once they peak (crest), and those experiencing flooding should be prepared for weeks of high-water levels into June.”
That glimmer could dim, however, if the NWS forecast for one to one-and-a-half inches of rain across the Basin by next Tuesday comes to pass.
Larry Kec, of Kabetogama, wears two hats as he and his neighbors work hard in the present moment to hold the floodwaters at bay. He’s the township board chairman and he’s also the owner of Kec’s Kove Resort. The resort has taken a hit, but not as much as some of his neighbors, he said on Tuesday.
“Fortunately, our cabins are far enough from the lake that I’ve got water just around one of them,” Kec said. “My dock system is a floating system, so I probably have one of the only dock systems left on the lake. All the big docks are underwater. My dock houses have about three feet of water in them and aren’t useable. I just shut the power off to the dock because I had a box that’s going underwater.”
Getting access to the dock, however, took some work. Kec said that the water stretched 150 yards back behind the dock now, so he hauled in eight loads of gravel to build a road to it.
“They’re pretty good now, but it’s still coming up. We haven’t crested yet,” he said.
Other resorts haven’t fared so well.
“Some of them are in dire straits,” Kec said. “Sandy Point Lodge is shut down, they’re completely underwater. Moosehead is shuttling people to three cabins because they can’t get to them without being in a wheelie. Arrowhead is high and dry but you can’t get to it because their parking lot is underwater.”
“Everybody’s in hip boots, that’s kind of common, either hip boots or waders,” Kec continued. “Now we’ve got people’s sewer septics going under, we just shut the neighbor’s down. We had a dike built over there that broke the other night with that heavy wind and he’s got four feet of water in his basement.”
Kabetogama got some extra help with making sandbags this week from ten members of a Duluth National Guard unit, which allowed some people to go out and assist with dike building, but Kec said they could still use more volunteers. They can’t take any more National Guardsmen because they don’t have any more space to house them. The resorts that are still operating are full and booked through Memorial Day weekend.
“We have so much sandbagging to do at resorts and private homes,” Kec said. “We’ve got plenty of dedicated hard workers, but we’re all just old. I’m a youngster and I’m 65. I’m working alongside people 78 and 89 that are going every day.”
Kec believes that many of the people who have kept their resort reservations have done so as their way of helping out.
“They figured we’ve had two years of COVID, and now all of a sudden there’s a third year with high water and their favorite establishment or resort may not be there when they want to come back,” Kec said. “I think some of them are coming just to support the businesses.”
That goodwill may need to last well into the summer, as Kec said he doesn’t expect to see a major drop in the lake level until July.
Rising water at Crane Lake had crossed Gold Coast Road in several places on Tuesday, with numerous structures on the lake side of the road succumbing to the flood.
Art and Jody Driggs had to have three trailer houses towed away from their property to keep them from being flooded, including the one they were living in while they’re building a new house on the property. They’ve moved into an adjacent little house next to the road that’s surrounded by flood waters but is still about a foot above them.
Meanwhile, their large shop building is surrounded by sandbags but sits high enough at the moment to leave a narrow strip of concrete for a walkway. And the couple has had to tussle with a derelict gazebo.
“The gazebo has floated away twice,” Jody said. “I don’t think any of us thought it would move, but it did, and luckily it lodged on a rock and they got it out with a four-wheeler. Then we’re sitting here later and the rope broke and they said ‘There it goes again.’”
There’s a foundation for a new house on the property, closer to the water’s edge during normal times, that’s still accessible if one puts on knee-high boots to wade across the driveway.
“We’ve owned this property since probably 2005, but I’ve been coming up her since probably the early 1960s,” Jody said. “I’ve seen water up in the driveway but nothing like this. And they say it’s going to come up six more inches.”
Several businesses that were surrounded by water last week were inundated by it on Tuesday, and numerous floating docks that had once been accessible weren’t any longer as the water had risen above and beyond their gangplanks.
Volunteers helping fill sandbags have the process down to a fine art and kicked into an unheard of gear on Saturday. Outfitted with six of the eight-bag-at-a-time devices devised by Beth Bak and an additional automatic bagger, and bolstered by St. Louis County Sheriff’s deputies, they cranked out 4,000 bags that day. Local businesses and individuals have stepped up with pizzas, burritos, banana bread and more to keep the volunteers well fed.
There were still over 2,000 empty bags left, but with the addition of ten National Guardsmen on Monday, those were taken care of, too.
Park closures
Last week, Voyageurs National Park personnel were scrambling with limited resources to assess the condition of the park’s campsites. It didn’t take long for park officials to make the call to close many campsites and trails until June 1, although it’s likely that if the water continues to rise as predicted the closures could be extended and expanded.
All 14 backcountry “B” campsites and all trails on the Kabetogama Peninsula were closed, as were any frontcountry sites which have been inundated by water that has reached camping infrastructure such as tent pads, campfire rings, and vault toilets.
Additional closures include six campsites on Kabetogama Lake, eight on Namakan Lake, six on Sandpoint Lake, and ten on Rainy Lake. Closures and openings are updated online on Tuesdays and Fridays at 9 a.m. at https://www.nps.gov/voya/planyourvisit/permitsandreservations.htm?fbclid=IwAR226P8lsH1ZaSuZG8XsjtQdPynbdVFWrpYBgxqUftTH-xdZTRghG7aw3w8.
For the most current information about lake levels, weather predictions, and related information, go to the NWS Rainy River Basin webpage at https://www.weather.gov/dlh/RainyRiverBasin.