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Communities in southeastern Minnesota and southwestern Wisconsin are bracing for more rain Friday even as they clean up from major flooding earlier this week. High water along rivers and creeks washed out roads, flooded homes and businesses, and even rerouted a trout stream.


Como Falls in Hokah, Minn., has long been a favorite spot for weddings. The apron-shaped waterfall and the stone bluffs on either side provided a perfect backdrop for outdoor ceremonies. Now that picturesque spot 


"There is no waterfall anymore. It has completely cut a different path," said Hokah resident Jessica Ross. 


The home she shares with her husband and children sits on a quiet, dead-end street just up the hill from the former waterfall. On Monday night, so much rain fell on this town of 550 that the trout stream carved a new route straight through Como Falls Park, leaving mud and debris in its wake.  


High ground is usually the best place to be in a flood. And the Rosses' 120-year-old home is still in good shape. But Ross remains concerned that the creek could inch closer and wash away the ground beneath her feet. 


"The power of the water, it eroded a lot of the hillside. It's now running along the hillside of the property we now live on."


Ross said she and her family evacuated Tuesday as a precaution, and they're keeping a close eye on the hill, as are city and county officials. 


Hokah Police Chief Bob Schuldt said the park sustained serious damage during even heavier rains 11 years ago, but he's never seen anything like this. 


"This is the first time where it's changed the course of the creek where it's washed out the hillside," Schuldt said. "Our park was basically destroyed with debris in 2007, but not to the magnitude of damage where it rerouted the creek and ate away the hillside."


While the damage to Hokah's park was dramatic, flooding across the state line in southwestern Wisconsin has been far more widespread. 


Video shot by MPR News editor Andrew Krueger near La Farge shows a swollen Clark Creek tearing into the soil beneath County Road P. One by one, short sections of asphalt hang suspended in space before peeling away into to the torrent.

https://twitter.com/akpix/status/1034565489647923202

Storms in Wisconsin, Minnesota prompt evacuations


The nearby Kickapoo River is swollen, too. Highway 131 that connects the towns along the Kickapoo is closed in many places because of washouts. 


The flood has brought seasonal tourism to a halt. Bill Teynor owns Titanic Canoe Rental in Ontario, Wis. When the rains came, he scrambled to move his canoes, trailers and buses to higher ground. But the rain came so fast that Teynor says he couldn't get everything out in time. 


"Twenty percent of my canoes are probably junk now," Teynor said.


Teynor's driveway is washed out. So is the concrete floor underneath his shelter building. 


"Last year we went through a flood. It wasn't this bad," Teynor said. "That one probably cost $50,000 in losses and lost revenue. This one is going to be triple that."


Despite the damage and the loss of two months' revenue including the Labor Day weekend, Teynor remains confident that he'll be able to reopen.


Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker issued a disaster declaration for all 72 counties. 


It directs state resources to help with cleanup, not only from flooding, but also from tornado and other storm damage from the last week and a half. 


Andrew Beckett with the state's Department of Emergency Management said the focus is still residents' safety.


"Once the water levels start to recede, then we'll begin the process of really starting to get an idea of how much damage has been done," Beckett said.


Drivers should check for road closures before heading out, and report any property damage through Wisconsin's 211 system, Beckett advises. That information will help determine whether the state will seek a federal disaster declaration.

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High water along rivers and creeks washed out roads, flooded homes and businesses, and even rerouted a trout stream.

SE Minnesota, western Wisconsin brace for more rain as cleanup continues

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