Some river communities in South Dakota are anticipating springtime flooding that could range from minor washouts to more damaging situations.
Travis Tarver is a meteorologist for the National Weather Service Aberdeen office. He said all this winter’s snow will need to go somewhere.
“When these flood outlooks first came out earlier in March, they weren’t calling for quite as high of a potential for river flooding, but we’ve gotten some pretty large systems come across the region through the month of March," Tarver said. "This added snowfall and precipitation has kind of increased those probabilities of flooding.”
Tarver said multiple rivers are at risk this year.
“The flooding threat has increased along the James River in Brown and Spink County," Tarver said. "We’re expecting minor to moderate flooding over on the Big Sioux River, kind of the Codington County, Hamlin County area, they’re expecting some moderate flooding down that way as well. Even some minor flooding on the Minnesota River potentially in the Peever area.”
Tarver said those living in flood-prone areas will need to keep up to date.
“If you live by, say a creek or a stream, just keep up to date on the latest forecasts relating to flooding and whatnot," Tarver said. "We have our webpage, weather.gov/abr, we have a section on there where you can monitor the river level and things like that if you live near the James River or live near the Big Sioux.”
The city of Watertown is already getting ready for potential spring floods, preparing sandbags and formalizing response strategies.