Floods of March-May 1965 in the Upper Mississippi River Basin
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Floods of March-May 1965 in the Upper Mississippi River Basin GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 1850-A Prepared in cooperation with the States of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri and with agencies of the Federal Government Floods of March-May 1965 in the Upper Mississippi River Basin By D. B. ANDERSON and I. L. BURMEISTER FLOODS OF 1965 IN THE UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 1850-A Prepared in cooperation with the States of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri and with agencies of the Federal Government UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1970 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERICR WALTER J. HICKEL, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY William T. Pecora, Director For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402 - Price $2.25 (paper cover) CONTENTS Page Abstract. _________________________________________________________ Al Introduction._____________________________________________________ 1 Purpose and scope.________________________________________________ 3 Acknowledgments.________________________________________________ 6 Flood forecasts.___________________________________________________ 6 Meteorological conditions causing floods._____________________________ 7 Conditions previous to March..______ ___________________________ 7 March climatological events.-___--______-_---_-_-_-_____-_-____ 9 April climatological events___________________-_-________________ 13 Thefloods________._______.____.____________________ 15 Mississippi River main stem.___________________________________ 15 Sauk and Elk River basins.____________________________________ 56 Crow River basin____________________________________________ 57 Rum River basin____________________________________________ 61 Minnesota River basin.________________________________________ 61 St. Croix River basin._________________________________________ 79 Mississippi River tributary basins in southeastern Minnesota.______ 81 Chippewa River basin________________________________________ 87 Wisconsin River basin__________________________________________ 88 Other Mississippi River tributary basins in Wisconsin._____________ 91 Mississippi River tributary basins in northeastern Iowa.___________ 91 Iowa River basin______________________________________________ 92 Cedar River basin-____________________________________________ 95 Skunk River basin___________________________________________ 96 Des Moines River basin_-_________________________-_______-_-_- 97 Mississippi River tributary ba sins in Illinois ______________________ 104 Mississippi River tributary basins in Missouri.-__________________ 105 Flood operations._________________________________________________ 105 Flood damages____________________________________________________ 107 Drainage and storage effects________________________________________ 109 Effect of timing of tributary flow on main stem peaks._________________ 113 Recurrence intervals of peak discharges._____________________________ 114 Determination of flood discharges_________-____--_______--__-_-_-__ 116 Streamflow data at gaging stations_________________________________ 117 Station descriptions and discharge tables______-____________-_____ 118 Summary of flood stages and discharges._________________________ 119 Station data._________________________________________________ 145 References cited.__________________________________________________ 443 In dex____________________________________________________________ 445 in IV CONTENTS ILLUSTRATIONS Page FIGURE 1. Map showing area covered by this report_______________ A2 2. Map showing location of flood determination sites_________ 4 3. Chart showing daily range in temperature at four U.S. Weather Bureau stations in Minnesota and Iowa for the period December 1, 1964, to April 15, 1965_____________ 8 4. Map showing snow cover on the ground as of March 18 1965- 10 5. Map showing water equivalent of snow on the ground at the end of March 1965__________.___.-__._______________ 11 6. Isohyetal map showing precipitation during the period April3-7, 1965-__________-_____-_-__-_-___-_--______ 13 7. Isohyetal map showing precipitation during April 1965_____ 15 8. Photographs of flood damage caused by the Mississippi River at Elk River, Minn____ _________________ _______ 18 9. Photograph of flood-damaged home in Lilydale, Mirn____ 20 10. Map of flooded area in St. Paul, Minn__________________ 22 11. Photograph of the St. Paul, Minn., municipal airport covered by flood waters_____________________________________ 23 12. Map of flooded area in Wabasha, Minn__________________ 25 13. Map of flooded area in Winona, Minn____--__-_________- 28 14. Photograph of flood damage to railroad trackage near Winona, Minn______________________________________ 29 15. Photograph of a flooded area in LaCrosse, Wis____________ 30 16. Map of flooded area in LaCrosse, Wis__-__-_________-_-_ 31 17. Photograph of flooded interstate bridge approach rnd an area in Praire du Chien, Wis________________________ 33 18. Photograph of flooded industrial area in Dubuque, ]~owa__ 34 19. Map of flooded area in Dubuque, Iowa_________________ 35 20. Map of flooded area in Clinton, Iowa___-__-_________--__ 36 21. Photograph of flooded area in Fulton, 111.________________ 38 22. Map of flooded area in Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, and Rock Island, Moline and East Moline, !!!_________ 40 23. Photograph of flooded area in Davenport, Iowa___________ 42 24. Map or flooded area in Muscatine, Iowa________________ 43 25. Photograpn of flooded area in Hannibal, Mo______________ 44 26. Flood-crest profiles of Mississippi River__________________ 46 27. Comparative discharge hydrographs at selected gaging stations on the Mississippi River, April-May 1965______ 51 28. Discharge hydrographs at selected gaging stations on Missis sippi River tributaries upstream from St. Paul, Minn., April 1965__________________________________ 57 29. Flood-crest profiles of the North and South Forks of Crow River__ _____________________..________________ 58 30. Map of flooded area in Mankato, Minn__________________ 64 31. Photograph of flooded area in Mankato, Minn____________ 65 32. Map of flooded area in Henderson, Minn_________________ 66 33. Photograph of flooded area in Henderson, Minn___________ 67 34. Map of flooded area in Carver, Minn_ ___________________ 68 35. Photograph of flooded area in Carver, Minn ______________ 69 36. Map of flooded area in Chaska, Minn___-_____-_________- 74 CONTENTS V Page FIGURE 37. Photograph of flooded area in Chaska, Minn______________ A75 38. Flood-crest profiles of Minnesota River __________________ 76 39. Discharge hydrograph at selected gaging stations in tin Minnesota River basin__----_----_----------_------__ 78 40. Discharge hydrographs at selected gaging stations on the Mississippi River tributaries in Wisconsin and south eastern Minnesota.- _ ________________________________ 80 41. Map of flooded area in Hastings, Minn_________________ 82 42. Photograph of flooded area in Hastings, Minn____________ 83 43. Flood-crest profiles of South Fork Zumbro River and Zumbro River---------------------------------------------- 85 44. Photograph of flooded area in Schofield, Wis_____-________ 90 45. Discharge hydrographs at selected gaging stations in Iowa River basin_________--______-_-_---___--______-__- 94 46. Photograph of flooded area in Jackson, Minn_____________ 98 47. Flood-crest profile of West Fork Des Moines River___--___ 100 48. Discharge hydrographs at selected gaging stations in Der< Moines River basin___---___-----------------___----- 101 49. Effect of timing of Minnesota River peak on maximum dis charge of Mississippi River at St. Paul, Minn___________ 114 50. Flood frequency curves for selected Mississippi River gaging stations ____________________________________________ 115 TABLES TABLES 1-5. Flood-crest elevations: ?*& 1. Mississippi River___-_-_-_--__--_---___-_-______ A52 2. North and South Forks Crow River_____________ 60 3. Minnesota River___-__---_-___-__--_______.-___ 71 4. South Fork Zumbro River and Zumbro River._____ 84 5. West Fork Des Moines River, April 6-13, 1965____- 101 6. Flood damages by States.-____--__---.-_-__-.____..__.__ 107 7. Communities where flood damages exceeded $1 million_____ 109 8. Effectiveness of reservoirs in upper Mississippi River basir during flood of 1965_________________________________ 112 9. Summary of flood stages and discharges.-________________ 120 FLOODS OF 1965 IN THE UNITED STATES FLOODS OF MARCH-MAY 1965 IN THE UPPEP MISSISSIPPI RIVER BASIN By D. B. ANDERSON and I. L. BURMEISTEE ABSTRACT The floods of March-May 1965 in the upper Mississippi Eiver basin occrirred as two different events, one during the latter part of February and early March and the other starting early in April and extending into May. Factors contribut ing to the floods were rapid melting of the winter accumulation of snow, heavy rains on the snow pack, and deeply frozen ground throughout much of the basin, which made the soil almost impervious and thereby greatly incrersed the amount of runoff. Peak stages and discharges during the floods exceeded previous known maxima at many points. The maximum discharge at St. Paul, Minn., for example, was 137 percent of the previous known maximum, and the stage was 4 feet higher than the previous maximum during a period of known floods extend ing back to 1851. Flood magnitudes exceeding those corresponding to a 50-year recurrence interval occurred at 37 sites where