Locals finding debris left over from Rapidan Dam failure and flooding

Blue Earth County, Minn. (KEYC) - Four months ago yesterday, the Rapidan Dam failed, marking a historic event in southern Minnesota.

Flooding followed the breach of the dam, but... since then, water levels have dropped significantly making it easier for debris to be spotted.

The aftermath of this summers' rainfall and dam failure are now showing significantly. And locals are witnessing the extreme devastation, right in front of them.

“When you look at it you just think ‘how can this recover?’ You know, there’s so much destruction,” said Jennifer Hildebrant.

Friends, Jennifer Hildebrant and Patrick Baskfield enjoy getting outdoors. Just a couple weeks ago as they were kayaking down the Minnesota River, entering at the Kiwanis Recreation Area, the soon came across more than banked trees.

“As we’d be floating along we’d see a random -a life jacket just hanging on a tree or something that looked like a large water softener. It was a big cylindrical object just banked on the side of the river,” Hildebrant said.

Patrick is a retired hydrologist and coordinator for the Watershed Pollutant Load Monitoring Network -a state-wide river monitoring program. He has also lived in southern Minnesota for the past 27 years, making for quick conclusions after the dam’s failure.

“We found dead fish and certainly everything was very, very impacted. A lot of sediment, a lot of low oxygen and a lot of water,” Baskfield said.

Patrick explained how the rivers have grown wider due to the recent floods, as well as changes to the wildlife.

“Wide, shallow rivers that aren’t very good for biology from a recreational stand-point, they are tough to kayak. The species diversity and the amount of fish and inverts -invertebrates, that goes down tremendously. So it’s not as rich a system as it could be,” he said.

While kayaking, Patrick and Jennifer came across buoys from the Rapidan Dam, which had traveled 20 miles downstream.

The Department of Natural Resources says when it comes to the debris cleanup, it all depends on location and ownership.

“Don’t put yourself at risk to remove the debris but it generally falls on the land owner or the property owner in the case of a bridge,” said Jon Lore, DNR Clean Water Legacy Specialist.

Although there are no plans in place for cleaning large debris out of the rivers, the hope is to bring the them back to life.

“Right now, it seems like a big question mark it almost seems too overwhelming to think, ‘how can we do something.’ But we have to start small I guess,” Hildebrant said.

The DNR says if you come across debris you are welcome to contact the local sheriff’s office or police department.

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