Rain, rain, go away has become the mantra of many area residents as record rainfall has affected the region.
Dona Greiner, Stevens County Emergency Management Director, told the Stevens County Board of Commissioners last week that since the beginning of June, five emergency declarations between Stevens and Big Stone County have been made.
The culprits for the declaration have been strong winds, hail, and rain.
The county board declared a state of emergency first on June 3 from an onslaught of strong winds, rain, and hail that downed power lines and trees, and damaged buildings.
The Preliminary Damage Assessment (PDA) was given later that month, with an estimated public infrastructure estimated damage total of $276,065. This figure does not include damage to private homes, businesses, or non-profits.
Days before Stevens County’s second emergency declaration of the summer, Governor Tim Walz approved disaster assistance for that emergency.
On July 27, more heavy rains, wind, and hail plagued the area.
Severe training thunderstorms began forming late in the day and produced heavy rainfall for about five hours.
The next day brought with it more rain, for a total of about 10 inches of rain along the Highway 28 corridor over a 48-hour period.
Basements flooded, streets had standing water, and city sewer systems became overwhelmed with the excess water, and people are still feeling the effects from that event a month later.
The county board declared the emergency on July 28 with an initial damage assessment of $800,000, which did not include private homes, businesses, or non-profits.
A request to the governor for assistance was submitted after the PDA last week.
Since July 27, Greiner reported that more than 15 inches of rain has fallen, and that the Highway 28 corridor has been the hardest hit.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Severe Storms Laboratory indicated that the precipitation on July 27 and 28 was a 1 in 75 year flood event for the area.
“I’ve never seen, in my 17 years, anything like this,” Greiner said.
Greiner said that she is working with Homeland Security to find 25 homes with major damage, which has been a challenge, she said. Major damage is defined as a dollar amount of damage equal to or more than 40% of the value of the home.
Businesses can be included in that, she added.
To report the damage, home and business owners can complete an online survey, which can be found by visiting the Stevens County, MN Facebook page or on the Stevens County Website. It can also be found by calling the Emergency Management Office.
Stormy weather conditions have not been the only thing keeping the emergency management department busy.
Smoke from wildfires in Canada have impacted the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s air quality index.
Within two weeks, two derailments happened just miles from each other in Stevens County. The first occurred on July 29. One locomotive and five rock cars derailed just south of Morris near the Pomme de Terre Golf Course. Crews were making repairs to the track due to the recent severe weather.
On August 9, during the Stevens County Fair, a BNSF crane locomotive derailed on County Road 22.
Neither incident resulted in injuries.
Even though it’s been a busy summer, the Emergency Management Department doesn’t only declare emergencies and deal with storm damage.
Facilitating trainings, like the county wide functional exercise that took place in June, is also part of the job.
148 attendees met at the Hancock School to work on incident command, communications, and active threat response with multiple first responding departments.
The I Love U Guys Foundation met in Morris earlier this month to facilitate workshops and training for safety. The I Love U Guys Foundation is a non-profit organization focused on school and community safety, particularly in emergency situations.
Greiner reported that paging has improved greatly after the tower work was completed. Damage at the tower site occurred during the June 2 severe weather event.
It’s only the end of August and it has been a busy year for the Emergency Management Department, and planning is already underway for trainings, plans, and projects for 2026.
