In response to Mississippi River flooding, the St. Paul City Council voted Wednesday to affirm Mayor Melvin Carter’s declaration of a state of local emergency.

It’s a largely procedural legal maneuver that allows the city to apply for county, state and federal disaster relief as it becomes available. The mayor’s declaration, which is retroactive to Monday, is effective for 30 days.

Rick Schute, the city’s director of Emergency Management, informed the council that the most recent estimates from the National Weather Service call for the Mississippi River in downtown St. Paul to crest at 20.8 feet on Saturday evening, which would be well within the range of the Top 10 historic crests.

The river surpassed the major flood stage of 17 feet late Tuesday afternoon and 18 feet on Wednesday afternoon, leaving water engulfing the area around the Cap Wigington Pavilion at Harriet Island Regional Park and creeping toward the park’s largest playground.

Excessive rainfall

Excessive rainfall from multiple storms have turned a particularly rainy spring and early summer into cause for alarm in many river communities throughout Minnesota and Iowa — including the partial failure of the Rapidan Dam outside Mankato — but the visible impact to date in St. Paul has been mostly scenic or traffic-related.

The city closed Barge Channel Road on Wednesday morning, the latest in a series of street closures and partial street closures that began with the closing of three miles of Shepard/Warner Road on Sunday evening.

Still, after the crest, the city can expect receding waters to reveal “public and private property damage as a result of rising water levels, saturated soil and increased runoff,” reads the emergency declaration, and more rain is forecast next week.

The Metropolitan Council and Metropolitan Airports Commission have also had to roll out their routine flood-related precautions at their riverfront facilities, including Holman Field, the MAC’s downtown St. Paul airport.

More information, including a live river flood cam, is available online at StPaul.gov/flood.

Valleyfair closes rides due to flooding

Meanwhile, flooding from the Minnesota River has resulted in three rides — the Excalibur, Thunder Canyon and Renegade — at Valleyfair being shut down.

Parking at the Shakopee amusement park also is impacted by flooding. So customers can consider:

• The Canterbury Park Overflow Lot will be open and MVTA buses will be provided from 9 a.m. until park close. Buses are ADA compliant, will run every 15-20 minutes, and are free of charge. Guests must get on the buses that have VALLEYFAIR on their digital header.

• MVTA’s Southbridge Crossings Park & Ride and Eagle Creek Park & Ride Stations. Buses from these stations to the park will be provided to Valleyfair guests from 9 a.m. until park close. The buses are ADA compliant, will run every 15 to 20 minutes, and are free of charge. Guests must get on the buses that have VALLEYFAIR on their digital header.

• At the Valleyfair overflow parking lot parking is limited to the unpaved, grassy area behind the parking lot. Only four-wheel drive vehicles with adequate clearance are allowed to use this lot. Customers will be guided into the lot and then directed where to park by Valleyfair crew. This parking area is very limited and is not wheelchair accessible.

• Those using ride share services, private buses, or who need to be picked up or dropped off can enter through the 1 Valley Park Drive entrance and will be directed to turn right onto the county service road.

Parking at all locations and shuttle buses are free to guests. For more information go to valleyfair.com/blog/2024.

The St. Croix River at Stillwater

The St. Croix River continues to rise slowly.

The river was at 686.1 feet in Stillwater on Wednesday afternoon; minor flood stage is 687 feet. The river is set to crest in Stillwater at 7 a.m. Sunday at 688 feet, which is just under moderate flood stage, according to the National Weather Service.

Mary Divine contributed to this report. 

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Minnesota’s women’s basketball team is set to take a major step forward this season after winning 20 games and advancing to the championship game of WNIT last season.

Those were big steps for the program that hadn’t won 20 games since 2018-19 and was playing its first year under coach Dawn Plitzuweit. But those achievements wouldn’t have meant much for the 2024-25 team had the Gophers lost the players who made that happen to the NCAA transfer portal.

Minnesota guard Mara Braun shoots between Iowa guard Gabbie Marshall, left, and forward Hannah Stuelke during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Dec. 30, 2023, in Iowa City. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Instead, Plitzuweit and her staff are running summer workouts with 13 healthy players, seven of whom collectively played an average of 33.0 games last season. That includes leading scorer Mara Braun (17.0), leading rebounder Mallory Heyer (8.6) and assists leader Amaya Battle (5.6).

In fact, it includes the team’s top five scorers and minutes leaders: Braun, Battle, Heyer, Grace Grocholski, Sophie Hart and Janay Sanders. In the age of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) — which allows private collectives to pay college athletes — and an NCAA transfer portal that allows players to change schools without penalty, that’s something of a miracle.

Before practice Wednesday at the Athletes Village, Plitzuweit told reporters that some of her big guns, particularly Braun, didn’t lack for suitors when the portal opened in March.

“We know that Mara was contacted, reached out to, quite a bit,” she said.

But Braun’s recruiting class has been under duress about transferring before. She, Battle, Heyer and Nia Holloway all chose to remain in Dinkytown after the coach who recruited them, former Gophers all-America and WNBA champion Lindsay Whalen, was let go after the freshmen season.

All are entering their junior seasons for Minnesota.

“NIL’s been crazy. It’s really increasing a lot,” Battle said. “But I’ve had a lot of people in my life who center me, like my dad. And like (Mara) said, we’re loyal to the maroon and gold. There’s really nowhere else we’d rather be, and no money could really change that.”

The Gophers appeared to be on their way to their first NCAA tournament since 2017-18 when Braun broke a foot in a 73-68 loss at Illinois on Jan. 28. Before that, they were 14-5 overall and 4-4 in Big Ten play but finished the regular season 1-9.

She returned for two WNIT games but reinjured her foot ate in a victory over North Dakota state and missed the last three, including a 69-50 loss to St. Louis in the WNIT championship game on the Evansville campus in Indiana.

Braun has been a full participant in practice this summer.

“I think we saw the potential. I think a lot of people saw what can be,” she said. “Obviously, we went through a lot of adversity, and I think any team is going to go through that at some point. It was unfortunate. It sucked for a while, but I think you saw strides, especially at the end of the season. We got to see a little glimpse of what I think everyone’s going to see this season.”

That confidence comes from a roster loaded with veterans that also added four players through the portal — the Gophers lost three — including 6-foot-3 centers Annika Stewart (Nebraska) and Jordan Brooks (Cal State Bakersfield) and Michigan guard Alexsia Rose, who won two state championships with Battle at Hopkins.

Eleven of the 15 players on the Gophers roster are from Minnesota, including Stewart, who played with Braun at Wayzata.

“It’s exactly what we wanted, and kind of what we planned for coming in under Coach Whay, who’s obviously from Minnesota,” Braun said. “It’s kind of a full-circle moment. We wanted this to be where the best Minnesota players end up, to play for the hometown team.

“So, now to have these people coming back and realizing maybe they shouldn’t have left in the first place is kind of fun for us. I think it’s kind of cool to show this is the place to be.”

Briefly

Redshirt freshman guard Kennedy Klick is rehabbing from a season-ending knee injury suffered last September, and Brooks is recovering from surgery after suffering a lower body injury on Jan. 20. Asked if they would be ready for fall camp, Plitzuweit said, “I sure hope so. That’s the goal.”

FANTASIC FIVE

The Gophers return their top five minutes leaders, and among them their top scorer, rebounder and assists leader from last season:

Player                                 Pts.   RB    A      Mins.
Mara Braun, Jr., G              17.0*  4.3.   3.1   33.2
Amaya Battle, Jr. G             12.1   4.7    5.6*  30.2
Grace Grocholski, So., G    10.8   4.6    1.9   34.3*
Sophie Hart, Sr., C              10.6   5.1    1.0   23.8
Mallory Heyer, Jr., F             9.5    8.6*   1.1   34.1
*team leader

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