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Jul 9, 2009 6:07 pm US/Central
Drought Causes Landmark Falls To Run Dry
(WCCO)
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Minnehaha Falls is usually one of the most picturesque places in the state, but this year the pictures aren't quite the same. (File)
CBS
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Most years, Minnehaha Falls is one of the most picturesque places in the state.
CBS
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Most years, Minnehaha Falls is one of the most picturesque places in the state.
CBS
Minnesota is in the middle of a drought and there are a lot of brown lawns to prove it.
There's another place that's really showing the affects of our rainless weather -- a Minnesota landmark and the creek that feeds it.
Most years, Minnehaha Falls is one of the most picturesque places in the state, but this year the pictures aren't quite the same.
"We've heard about it, never been here, and this is kind of a bummer," said Sara Acker from Burnsville.
The falls is dry and people who visit are disappointed.
"When I was here when I was 4 it was rushing so loud that I could hear it from the parking lot," said Elise Pearson, a little girl from Edina. "I thought it was going to be like that, not nothing."
Lisa Valera and her daughter are in town from San Francisco and they heard that the falls were a nice place to visit.
"We were expecting even just a little drizzle of water," said Valera.
Basically, the falls are dry because the creek is, in some places, bone dry.
"Ten sites that we monitor on Minnehaha Creek, and as of Monday, one of the sites was completely dry, and a lot of the sites aren't flowing at all. They're actually having a negative flow to them because of backflow issues," said Yvette Christianson from the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District.
"This situation is totally related to the drought because we have no water on the lake," said Dr. Udai Singh, also from the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District.
The lake he is talking about is Lake Minnetonka -- 22 miles away and way below its normal level.
It feeds the creek when the Grays Bay Dam is open, but the water would have to rise 5 inches for that to happen again.
"As scientists, we like to state the fact, but there's one thing about Mother Nature is the rain," said Singh. "We can't make rain. Rain only happens when it happens."
The Grays Bay Dam has been closed since June 2, but it was actually worse in 2000, when the dam went all summer without ever being opened.
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