Bob Collins
The heavy rain in the Twin Cities today is what the people in southern Minnesota had most of the night and they’re certainly paying the price. Overland flooding and stream flooding is threatening homes, causing some evacuations, and shutting down roads.
Through the day we’ll be updating things on NewsQ and providing links to coverage elsewhere.
Updates
7:32 p.m. – 
The Zumbro River in Kenyon.
5:00 p.m. – Planning on driving in the area? Consult this map of trouble spots from the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
3:54 p.m. – Owatonna.com has some interesting pictures. Note the stalled car(s) where they tried to drive through standing water. We’re always told not to do that, but back in 2009, I did, knowing full well it was a stupid thing to do.
3:26 p.m. – Paul Douglas tweets, “Had this same storm come in late October – Nov. metro would have picked up 25-35″ snow, closer to 80″ southern MN. Yes, could be worse.” Memo to self: tune-up snowblower this weekend.
1:57 p.m. Downtown Pine Island. Click for a larger view.
12:37 p.m. – KSTP has some raw video of the flooding.
12:27 p.m. – An amazing picture from Pine Island from MPR’s Jeffrey Thompson. This isn’t a river. It’s a street.
12:23 p.m. – Pine Island is looking for volunteers to help sandbag the city.Call the Emergency Operations Center at 507-356-8905 or 507-356-4591.
11:37 a.m. – This video, and accompanying pretty music, invites a reopening of an old debate between many drivers. Does the high speed windshield wiper do anything more than throw more rain on the window?
11:36 a.m. – Update from Amboy, according to Douglas: 10.45″
11:12 a.m. – 
11:10 a.m. – Some evacuations are underway in St. James. An assisted living facility is being evacuated as a precaution, according to the mayor via Twitter.
11:09 a.m. – 10″ in South Branch, according to Paul Douglas. 9″ in Amboy. “This is roughly three months worth of rain falling in 12-18 hours,” he says. “I don’t think anybody in their right mind thought we’d be seeing 10″ of rain in this system. That’s equivalent to a hurricane’s worth of rain.”
11:06 a.m. – MPR’s Midday is providing live coverage of the flooding now. The guest is meteorologist Paul Douglas. Listen here.
11:03 a.m. – Arcadia, Wisconsin seems particularly hard hit. Schools are closed as are the two largest employers in town — both processing plants. The Arcadia News Leader says residents are being warned not to go out.ot allowed on the roads
11:02 a.m. – Very compelling images from the Owatonna area on the Star Tribune site.
10:50 a.m. – The busiest route affected so far has been Highway 52 which was closed, reopened and now — according to KTTC, is closed again. Here’s a list of some closed roads in the area and some images from the scene.
