In anticipation of high water, the St. Paul District sent out flood reconnaissance teams in April. The teams included Terry Zien, senior program manager and hydraulic engineer.
Zien said the team used maps and previous flood records to anticipate trouble spots.
“We have several functions when we go out on flood reconnaissance duty,” Zien said. “First, we have a responsibility to the district. We visit our projects and make sure they’re properly functioning and ensure there’s no physical damage from winter conditions.”
Zien and the team also made critical observations from the field that were used by the Corps’ hydraulics and hydrology branch and the National Weather Service.
“We were in constant communication with the hydraulics and hydrology branch,” Zien said. “We would find out what information was needed for their modeling and then take those measurements. We were able to give the engineers an idea of how much water was coming into the reservoirs.”
The teams also observed snow cover and river ice, which can affect runoff for the flood.
“As the snow is melting, it’s important that everybody knows where there’s still snow and if the fields are wet and draining,” Zien said. “We would also make observations on ditch conditions and culverts, and we would send that information to the National Weather Service. The service would incorporate that data into their daily forecasts as part of their overall report.”
Formal interagency coordination began in January and continues until the flood threat ends in late spring.
Zien said this is the eighth flood he’s done reconnaissance for, and the fifth one in the Minnesota basin. “For the Upper Mississippi River, this is what I would characterize as a well-behaved flood,” Zien said. “There was high water, and it was out of the banks, and into the fields in some places, but it wasn’t stressing our projects too much.”
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