4.3 inches of rain

With mud boots next to the door, a shovel on the other side of the wall, and drying rain gear hanging in the bathroom I'm beginning to feel seasoned in weathering flash floods. Three flash flood events have inundated the area in two years. This storm, however, was the largest in terms of the amount of rain.

Record rains have fallen for the past 24 hours.  In the end, 4.3 inches of rain settled in our rain gauge.  More than eight inches fell in the Duluth area.  The St. Louis River, one of the largest rivers in Northern Minnesota, is now at a record flood level.  The interstate was shut down with three feet of water drowning it's lanes.  Highway 61 was closed along the shore.  Fiber optics and communication lines were severed when the raging waters toppled a bridge over the Knife River.  Phones and internet were down all day.

Around Cook County the already-saturated soils accepted little before it began to flow in sheets over the land.  Small tributaries swelled within minutes and cut into any banks that were in their way.  Unconsolidated ground swelled, became a viscous plastic fluid and gave way to the forces of gravity.  Immense masses of earth wasted down the slopes of the North Shore.  Root beer brown colored water derived from the clay-rich run off sheens the surface of the lake along entire shore.

Relative to our neighbors down the shore, our property was spared the worst of damage.  The toe slope of the recently installed septic tank was eroded.  Beyond that everything held up.  So for now we will count our blessings and think about flood insurance...