With Threat Of Spring Flooding, Minnesota Homeowners Scramble To Get Protected

Minnesota is still in the grip of winter, but already experts are warning that the conditions are ripe for significant spring flooding.

And that has homeowners scurrying to get flood insurance before it’s too late. “I would err on the side of protecting yourself,” said Mark Seeley, former extension climatologist at the University of Minnesota.

“If you have none, I would get some. If you have some, this might be the year you might want to look at getting the next level up.”

Minnesota ended 2019 as the wettest year on record, leaving the ground saturated and rivers high even before the spring thaw.

The snow across most of Minnesota’s frozen landscape has 4 to 6 inches of water in it, and that already will generate a lot of water runoff, Seeley said. Even normal amounts of precipitation heading into spring will pose a flood threat, he said.