Duluth Hillside and Cascade Park Flood of 2012

Duluth has shattered numerous records, including total rainfall in a 24-hour period.  1972 had an entire street crumble though.

I guess we can only wait it out and argue about which was worse later on.

(Also, here's a LakeVoice story  about the 1972 flood with some photos of Sixth Avenue East for anyone who's curious about it.)

First Avenue West and the alley above Fourth Street:





Cascade Park:




Caulk the wagon!

Mayor Ness has now declared a State of Emergency in Duluth.

Second Avenue West is also wounded, but I don't have any pictures of it. Clouds of steam and jets of water were spurting right through the bricks and pavement in the street.

Shana took those pictures, not me.

The zoo has been hit quite hard. The News Tribune has an article that mentions it.

There's currently an actual traffic jam on Grand Avenue due to the closure of I-35. Apparently no one is heeding the authorities' advice to stay off the roads.

Worse than '72? Could well be. But worse than 1912? 1909? 1897? 1872? Perhaps.

I remember a kid went through several blocks of culvert on Sixth Avenue East back in '72 -- very similar to the kid in Proctor on Tuesday. He also survived with just scrapes and bruises.

Too bad they didn't have the technology we have today back in 1972, or in 1912 or 1909 or 1897 or 1872. There are so few photos from those (or none for the older ones), while there are probably hundreds of thousands of photos from today's flood.

Interestingly, there was a post on PDD featuring some 1909 flood photos a few years back.

Street scene, 1909

Yesterday a friend showed me a weekly calendar for 1973 printed by Stewart-Taylor with 52 photos from the flood. Tim K., your memory is working--one of the photos showed the culvert that a boy was pulled through just like the other day.

I'm finding the closed roads have pros and cons. Makes people more alert, increases their capacity for to handle change, and I'm able to exercise/bike unmolested by traffic in so many places I wasn't before, so that's kind of nice. Why just the other day, I had a beautiful mother doe/fawn moment that lingered for five minutes, would've been ran over by cars just days before.  Plus, the way some roads were carved away really prepares you for the big picture. Mother Nature keeps it real.