Rain and more rain: Heavy weekend rain results in localized flooding

WILLMAR - Thunderstorms brought heavy rain that resulted in localized flooding in parts of Willmar Saturday night.
Two weather websites said Willmar received a total of almost 4 inches of rain over the weekend, although amounts received around the area varied.
Rain had flooded a low portion of the parking lot between Kandi Mall and Cash Wise Foods around 9 p.m. Saturday.
At the same time, the Tribune spotted a motorist who attempted to drive through the high water. However, the car stalled and the motorist was forced to get out and push the car to higher ground.
Willmar Public Works Department employees placed warning cones at some intersections due to flooding. Ditches along Highway 12 East in the vicinity of the VFW were full and spilled over onto the service roads in low areas. County Ditch 23A, which flows southeast out of Willmar, was full.
Public Works Superintendent Scott Ledeboer said Sunday that intersection flooding varied.
“I’ve seen it worse. Most of then went down fairly quickly,’’ he said.
Ledeboer said water stays the longest in the intersection of Seventh Street and 15th Avenue Southwest. “That is usually the last one to go down,’’ he said. By 4:30 a.m. Sunday, the water was gone, he said.
Also under water was much of Swansson Field, where the parking lot at Bill Taunton Stadium was covered. Public Works employees were called to the stadium at about 9:30 p.m. to clean up trash and bottles from barrels that water and wind had tipped over.
No problems were reported on Kandiyohi County roads, according to David Fritz, County Public Works maintenance engineer.
However, his department placed warning signs on a township road in Green Lake Township just north of Green Lake and on a Dovre Township road that had a washout. He said the townships will make repairs to their roads.
Also, he said a small development on the north end of Pennock struggled with some water issues.
Fritz said drainage ditches are full and it’s going to take a while to get the fields back down again.
“Everything is so full. We need some nice dry warm weather,’’ said Fritz. “Other than full drainage ditches and water in the road ditches, we seem to be doing OK.’’
Today, the National Weather Service forecasts a partly sunny sky with a high near 81. Tonight will be mostly cloudy with a 70 percent chance of precipitation.
Tuesday will see a 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1 p.m., and a 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms Tuesday night.