Water levels worry property owners across Central Minnesota

• "No wake" signs are posted on the Sauk River Chain and Two Rivers Lake because of flooding problems
• The Sauk River was at 6.2 feet on Tuesday, just slightly above the flood stage of 6 feet
• Owners of lake property are dealing with wet basements and other property damage

RICHMOND Some residents around St. Cloud-area lakes are still coping with flooded yards, underwater docks and wet basements as high water levels slowly recede.

On some lakes, "no wake" signs caution boaters to slow down and avoid creating waves that can cause shoreline erosion and worsen flooding.

"We're getting complaints," said Bruce Bechtold, chief deputy in the Stearns County Sheriff's Office.

St. Cloud had the second-wettest spring on record, and the rainfall continued into June. Area rivers including the Sauk and Mississippi crested last week after several inches of rain fell on Central Minnesota.

This week's drier weather has helped the lake and river levels to start dropping, but more rain is expected in the next few days.

The Sheriff's Office has posted advisory signs on the Sauk River Chain of Lakes near Cold Spring and Richmond, as well as Two Rivers Lake near St. Anna. Those lakes, fed by the Sauk River, have had the worst flooding problems, Bechtold said.

"They're not draining as fast as the others," he said.

The sheriff's office is asking boaters on those lakes and throughout the county to use restraint and common sense and reduce their speed. However, without official action by the county to adopt a no-wake zone, the signs can't be enforced with a ticket.

The signs are helping, but some boaters are "still going fast," said Mary Lou Goebel, who lives on the west side of Horseshoe Lake.

"Some of them slow down, and the other ones don't care," she said.

Goebel is keeping two sump pumps running in her basement, where water has seeped in because it has no place else to go.

"It's just too saturated," she said.

At the home of Paulette and Craig Martinson, who live on a peninsula east of Krays Lake, the beach and dock are under water. Their boat floated off its lift and is now tied to a neighbor's dock.

There is still some boat traffic going too fast, Paulette Martinson said, but the number of boats on the chain is fewer than usual.

"It's hard for people to access their boats when their docks are under water," she said.

The National Weather Service reported that the Sauk River was at 6.2 feet on Tuesday, just slightly above the flood stage of 6 feet. The river level was expected to continue dropping this week, but that could change if more rain falls.

Dan Brady, president of Friends of Two Rivers Lake, has water halfway up his yard. With the recent heavy rains, the lake rose about 2 feet over its ordinary high water mark, Brady said.

"It did make it up to a lot of foundations," he said. Brady said it's too early to tell whether the high water will leave behind erosion damage.

In Benton County, Little Rock Lake residents have been watching the lake level closely. The Mississippi River level has been slowly dropping, said Jim McDermott, county emergency management director, but that could change. He's advised lake residents to have a flood plan ready just in case.

"If we did get 3 or 4 inches, there's a possibility that the water in the lake would rise again," McDermott said.

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