Words of Caution for Mississippi River Boaters in SE Minnesota
Wabasha, MN (KROC AM News) – Although the weather should cooperate with those planning to do some boating on the Mississippi River in SE Minnesota this weekend, there are some issues they need to be aware of.
As in fast-moving and cold water.
In most areas of the river between Red Wing and the Iowa border, the river is above or near flood stage.
The Wabasha area is feeling the brunt of the high water, as it has since the spring snowmelt. As of Saturday morning, the river was at nearly 14 feet - two feet above flood stage. And it may stay above flood stage for another week. The high water has forced MnDOT to close the section of Highway 60 that serves as a popular entry to Wabasha.
And it also brought a warning from the Wabasha County sheriff, who has this post on the department’s Facebook site:
Dear residents of the City of Wabasha and Mississippi river users,
The City of Wabasha and the Wabasha County Sheriff's Office have been active in obtaining new signage for the No Wake Zone which is a City of Wabasha Ordinance. The Sheriff's Office boat patrol helps enforce it. Over the years, we have struggled greatly in keeping the area marked with marker buoys. Everything imaginable has happened to them over the years and they do get expensive. This year we are going to try and maintain this area just with signage from shore on the MN side. We have 4 smaller signs that the city hopes to install this week and the company that we are getting the larger signs from will finally ship next week. We used a particular grant to fund the purchase of the signs and because of the grant guidelines, we just ordered a few weeks ago. We just wanted the residents to know that the No Wake Zone is important for us to be watching and understand that there is valuable infrastructure in that area. This week is a good example of what might have happened to the buoys had they been placed because of some higher water coming.
Thanks for being patient.
Sheriff Rodney Bartsh
The city of Red Wing also issued this advisory on Friday related to the river:
Recent rainfall in our region has caused the Mississippi River to rise again, leading to several area park and boat launch closures including:
· The road into Colvill Park
· Frazier Street access to the public boat launch
· The parking lot of the Red Wing Marina
· Parts of Bay Point Park are closed, though the Field of Honor to commemorate Memorial Day is still open
There is some good news: weather forecasters are predicting dry conditions until Sunday night.
News update: A powerful statement from Jayme Closs.