As Minnesota got a reprieve from significant rainfall Tuesday, Gov. Tim Walz and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar took to the skies to survey damage from widespread flooding in the southern part of the state.

What National Weather Service forecasters have described as “impressive” rainfall triggered severe flooding across the state this month — more than 40 of Minnesota’s 87 counties have been affected.

Gov. Tim Walz, front right, and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, left, brief reporters at the St. Paul Army Aviation Facility at Holman Field in St. Paul on Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (Alex Derosier / Pioneer Press)

Flooding this past week in southern Minnesota closed roads, caused evacuations in some communities and pushed a dam at Rapidan near its breaking point.

To assess the situation, Walz, Klobuchar and state cabinet leaders took a 90-minute ride aboard a Minnesota Army National Guard Blackhawk helicopter from Holman Field in downtown St. Paul about 70 miles southeast to the Mankato area, which has seen what Walz has called “unprecedented flooding.”

“The scope of it strikes you much more,” Walz told reporters after returning to St. Paul. “You can listen to the number of acres and hear these things, but I think each of us was talking about the amount of standing water that’s out there.”

Rising waters

Since June 18, rising waters have damaged infrastructure and property, ruined crops and led to evacuations in the city of Waterville and surrounding areas in Le Sueur County.

Walz had already visited northern Minnesota to survey damage last week and over the weekend declared a peacetime emergency, activating the Minnesota National Guard to assist with disaster relief.

On Tuesday, Maj. Gen. Shawn Manke said about 40 soldiers are deployed in Waterville to assist with sandbagging and water-pumping, and the Guard is opening its armory in Faribault as an emergency shelter for those displaced by flooding.

Minnesota is getting a break from rain this week, but it’s possible wet weather will continue, according to Daniel Hawblitzel, meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service in the Twin Cities.

At a Monday briefing, Hawblitzel said many areas have seen rainfall amounts of 8 to 9 inches above normal in the month of June alone, and some parts of southern Minnesota have seen as much as 10 to 12 inches of rain in the past week.

That’s led to major flooding on parts of the Cannon, Cottonwood, Crow, Des Moines and Minnesota rivers, and some continue to rise, according to the weather service. In Windom, the Des Moines River on Monday eclipsed the record level set in 1969, with an even higher crest expected Wednesday.

Federal disaster aid

Minnesota will likely seek federal disaster aid to help repair damage across wide swaths of the state, and Klobuchar said it was evident from Tuesday’s aerial survey the state would qualify.

“I am not an engineer but looking at that dam and seeing the severe damage there as well as washed-out roads in Minnesota, I believe we could well be into our $10.5 million — that is the level at which federal aid would kick in for public infrastructure,” she said.

The state also has its own disaster relief fund with about $26 million, and about $50 million will get added to the fund in September.

Damage assessments are already underway in northern Minnesota, said Minnesota Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson, who said his agency is already working with officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

St. Paul, Stillwater

In St. Paul the Mississippi River on Tuesday was at 17 feet. It is expected to crest at more than 20 feet on Saturday, more than 3 feet higher than major flood stage.

In Stillwater, the St. Croix River was at 685.7 feet above sea level Tuesday. That river is set to crest on Saturday at 688 feet, just under moderate flood stage, according to the National Weather Service.

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A woman who reached a $3 million settlement with Ramsey County last year after alleging that correctional officers used excessive force in the county jail was charged Monday with stealing from a St. Paul Target store and assaulting a police officer.

Police responded to Target at 1300 University Ave. about 10 a.m. Saturday on a report of a woman who hid items in a bag and swung it at a security guard.

Mira Monique Mozuch-Stafford (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

Officers located a woman matching the suspect’s description walking on University Avenue with a pink bag. She was identified as Mira Monique Mozuch-Stafford, 31, of St. Paul.

While in the back of the squad car, Mozuch-Stafford screamed profanities and said that if the officer was on the street she would beat her up, charges say.

A Target employee identified the bag as the one Mozuch-Stafford used to steal the items and swing at the security guard, charges say. The value of merchandise she stole was just shy of $210.

While being transported to jail, Mozuch-Stafford repeatedly kicked the back of the driver’s seat, yelled profanities and spit at the officer through slits in the window partition of the squad car, according to the charges.

At jail, because of her “disorderly behavior,” Mozuch-Stafford was not immediately booked and had to be isolated, according to the criminal complaint charging her with felony fourth-degree assault of a peace officer and misdemeanor theft.

Mozuch-Stafford made a first court appearance on the charges Tuesday and remailed jailed in lieu of $35,000 bail. Her public defender did not respond to a message seeking comment.

Civil rights lawsuit

In late 2022, Miri Mozuch-Stafford filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Ramsey County and various sheriff’s office correctional officers, alleging they took her to the ground in the jail on Feb. 8, 2021, badly breaking her leg, and that she “languished in agony” for 17 hours before receiving hospital treatment. Her tibia was fractured and an artery was severed, the lawsuit said.

Miri Monique Mozuch-Stafford sued Ramsey County and employees over injuries she sustained at the jail on Feb. 8, 2021. (Photo filed with the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Minnesota)

Mozuch-Stafford had more than $360,000 in medical expenses. She is a nursing assistant by training and experience, but “will be partially or totally unable to perform such work or similar work,” the lawsuit said.

The county denied the allegations about the takedown in its legal response to the lawsuit.

A judge approved the $3 million settlement, which included covering attorney fees and court costs, in June 2023 and, as a result, dismissed the lawsuit.

Other trouble

Mozuch-Stafford has three additional open criminal court cases.

Last month, she was charged with motor vehicle theft and fifth-degree assault for allegedly jumping into a man’s running car as he went into a St. Paul restaurant to grab his food order. After the man opened his driver’s side door, she punched him in the arm several times, the charges say. She was granted a conditional release to treatment pending further proceedings, according to court records.

She was charged with felony fifth-degree drug possession (methamphetamine) in Goodhue County in September and December. In early January, she was found to be incompetent to proceed with the cases and failed to appear at hearings later that month, court records show.

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Former Minnesota hockey greats Natalie Darwitz and Krissy Wendell-Pohl were teammates with the Gophers from 2002-05, and now they’ll be going in together to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

The pair of former Gophers and U.S. Olympians will join Colin Campbell, Pavel Datsyuk, David Poile, Jeremy Roenick and Shea Weber to make up the 2024 class when it is inducted Nov. 11 in Toronto.

Wendell-Pohl got emotional when she found out they’d also be going into the hall together, especially as another sign of the growth and appreciation of women’s hockey.

“It’s crazy,” she said. “To think of how far the game has come in such a short amount of time but yet feels so long ago when you think of where it was back when we kind of started playing on boys (teams) and the opportunities now that girls have to play.”

Darwitz and Wendell-Pohl led Minnesota to back-to-back national championships in 2004 and 2005, and Darwitz was named the Frozen Four Most Outstanding Player in 2005.

Darwitz tallied 42 goals and 72 assists for 114 points in 2004-05, breaking the NCAA record for points in a single season. In just 99 career games, the three-time All-American currently ranks first in program history in points per game (2.48) and assists per game (1.45).

Wendell-Pohl was the 2005 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award winner for the nation’s top player. The Brooklyn Park native ranks second in program history in points per game (2.35), goals per game (1.05) and assists per game (1.30).

On the international stage, Darwitz and Wendell-Pohl combined for five Olympic medals and 14 IIHF women’s world championship medals with Team USA. Both are members of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame and the ‘M’ Club Hall of Fame.

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