UPDATE: Cannon Reaches Peak, Continues to Rise

As of 8 a.m. this morning, Northfield has received nearly an inch of rain since Monday. Moreover, the Straight River between Faribault and Owatonna has received approximately 1.25 inches of rain, say engineers with the City of Northfield.

According to an update from the office of City Administrator Tim Madigan, the river level had receded a few inches from its earlier peak on Monday night, but during the last few hours (of Tuesday morning) it has risen back to Monday's peak and continues to rise.

City engineers expect to see the river rise an additional 12 to 24 inches before the storm moves out of the area sometime on Wednesday.

The rest of the current flood watch update from Northfield engineers: 

"If the final rainfall exceeds two inches in the upstream areas, we might see the water rise further. Currently the river is approximately three feet below the 100-year flood elevation and five feet below the peak of the Sept. 2010 flood. 

"The Public Works Department has roughly 3,000 sandbags prepared to protect city facilities, particularly the Safety Center. The Safety Center parking lot sits close to the 100-year flood elevation. The present plan is to build a one-foot sandbag berm around the perimeter of the parking lot, should protection become necessary.

"The additional sandbags necessary will be filled Tuesday morning and a decision on building the sandbag berm around the Safety Center parking lot will be made around noon.

"An end to rain or a switch to snow will help to lower the eventual crest of the river level. 

"City Staff continue to monitor all available data from the National Weather Service, US Geological Survey, local and state emergency management services, and to collect data from our own river gauges."

Links to automated river gauges and precipitation data are provided on the Northfield flood website.