Newport city officials declared a state of emergency during their city council meeting this week as the potential for flooding from the Mississippi River grows.
Upriver, at Lock and Dam 5 in St. Paul, the river is rising at a rate of about a foot per day.
The emergency declaration gives the city more flexibility when it comes to hiring outside contractors or renting extra equipment to deal with flooding and cleanup. They can also recoup some of the costs and seek state and federal aid.
Emergency management officials from the Washington County sheriff’s office have been meeting with the city on preparations.
“This isn’t the first rodeo for the cities especially for Newport,” Sheriff Dan Starry said. “They understand some of the issues they’ve had in the past regarding flooding. We want to make sure we’re good partners.”
Bruce Hanson, director of public works for Newport, said the city has 20,000 sandbags and 100,000 pounds of sand. They’re available for residents at the city’s public works facility at 1100 Bailey Road.
“We’ve got our action levels where we shut off storm sewers where it can’t back up,” he said. “We’ve got our protection systems as far as sandbags. Pumps are set up and ready to go if we need them.”
The river is expected to crest around Thursday.
Updates are available on Newport’s website http://www.ci.newport.mn.us as well as their Facebook page.
