St. Paul Flood: Before and During photos

I saved some images off the city of St. Paul's web cams last week before the crest of the river. The river was already high at that point so some of the differences don't seem that dramatic. Also, the city has done a lot to prevent flooding in situations like this so some of what we see here is that the levees are doing their jobs.

Upper Landing Before and During Flood:
These two don't look all that different. Look though in the second photo and you can see that there is less of the levee visible.



Union Pacific Bridge - Wide Angle Before and During Flood:

The sun really messes with this camera but you can see in the second photos that the bridge supports are barely out of the water.



Union Pacific Bridge - Close-Up Before and During Flood:

Check out the bridge supports on the right hand side of the trail lift bridge. They are completely under water in the second photo.


Raspberry Island West Before and During Flood:

The most dramatic difference on the West side of Raspberry island can be seen at the building. In the first photo the sidewalk and path to the water are visible. In the second photo, the water is up to the building.



Raspberry Island East - Before and During Flood:

The sun makes this one a little hard to see but a good chunk of the east side of the island disappears under the water in the second photo.



Lambert's Landing - Before and During Flooding

Here we can see why they close the road along the river as water has covered it in the second photo. Technically the water hasn't topped the levee. I think this is a low spot and the water is probably coming up from a drain that leads to the river.


Harriet Island - Before and During Flood:
This is the most dramatic difference. Harriet Island has a lower levee than the rest of St. Paul and it is the first to flood. It is also designed to flood though so the building isn't ruined.


Harriet Island Park - During Flood
For some reason I didn't get a pre-flood shot of this one but you can see the extent of the flooding in the photo below. The building in the photos above is visible in the lower right of the image. While the park itself has flooded, you can see the water did not even come close to the tall snow covered levee in the background that protects local businesses.


~Kirk