Minnesota, 2001

Flooding in Minnesota, April 6 to 29, 2001

April 6 to 29, 2001 · NWS DLH · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

Lingering snowpack with a high water content, combined with three heavy rainfall events during the month of April, led to significant flooding along parts of the Mississippi River, Sandy River, and Big Sandy Lake. The water level came within four inches of rendering the Aitkin city sewage treatment plant inoperative.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 2 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

  • Tornadoes
  • Tropical storms and surge
  • Floods
  • Wind
  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
  • Fire, smoke and dust
  • Marine and coastal
  • Other

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The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$675,000
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
2

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS DLH wrote it up.

Lingering snowpack with a high water content, combined with three heavy rainfall events during the month of April, led to significant flooding along parts of the Mississippi River, Sandy River, and Big Sandy Lake. The water level came within four inches of rendering the Aitkin city sewage treatment plant inoperative. Despite sandbagging efforts, thousands of dollars in damage to homes, businesses, and roads occurred. Damage to public property was estimated at $675,000 county-wide. Damage to private property was not available.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Duluth, MN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 6, 8:00 PM CST, 3 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 6, 8:00 PM CST, 3 hours before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN
900 PM CDT FRI APR 6 2001

THE POWERFUL LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM CONTINUED TO TAKE SHAPE THIS EARLY
EVENING...WITH RAPID DEEPENING OF THE SURFACE LOW STILL EXPECTED TO
TAKE PLACE DURING THE EARLY MORNING IN NEBRASKA. BATCHES OF RAIN AND
EMBEDDED THUNDERSTORMS WERE ALREADY PUSHING INTO THE SOUTHERN HALF
OF THE AREA AS OF 9 PM...WITH MORE STORMS DEVELOPING BACK IN THE
DAKOTAS AND NEBRASKA. HEAVY RAIN POTENTIAL STILL POSSIBLE TONIGHT.

THE RUC40 HAS A GREAT HANDLE ON THE CURRENT CONVECTION...AND HAS
SHED SOME LIGHT AS TO THE POTENTIAL FOR STRONG STORMS LATER TONIGHT.
EARLIER MESOETA HAD 850 COMPUTED LI OF NEAR ZERO ENTERING OUR
SOUTHERN CWA...WHILE RUC40 HAS A BULLSEYE OF -5 LI NOT TOO FAR
SOUTHWEST OF OUR CWA ON THE NOSE OF THE 140 KNOT ULJ AND NEAR THE
EXTREMELY STRONG VORT MAX ENTERING SRN MN. WITH UNBELIEVABLE THETA-E
ADVECTION MOVING IN LATER TONIGHT...IT COULD BE A STORMY NIGHT.

CURRENT ZONES IN GREAT SHAPE...AND WILL ONLY HAVE TO FRESHEN UP SOME
TIMING ISSUES AND MAKE SOME MINOR WORDING CHANGES. EVERYTHING ELSE
IN GREAT SHAPE. STILL HOLDING OFF ON FLOOD/FLASH FLOOD WATCH DUE TO
RIVJERS BEING WELL BELOW FLOOD STAGE.

.DLH...NONE.

DAP

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Northern Aitkin

When
April 6, 11:00 PM CST to April 29, 11:00 PM CST
Where
Northern Aitkin forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
46.608, -93.415 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Southern Aitkin

When
April 6, 11:00 PM CST to April 29, 11:00 PM CST
Where
Southern Aitkin forecast zone
Property damage
$675,000
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
46.608, -93.415 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Flood
Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Minnesota in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Minnesota, April 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5246818, 5246819.