Minnesota Prairie Roots

UNDERNEATH MY FEET the ground felt spongy, earth saturated with too much water. So when I could skirt the matted-down, unstable lawn, I did. I moved onto the sand, sculpted across the ball field where once there had been grass.

Sand sweeps across a ball field at Teepee Tonka Park.

This is Teepee Tonka Park in Faribault, some 10 days after torrential rains caused the Straight River to rise and inundate this city park. Situated next to the river on the city’s east side, this low-lying park is prone to spring flooding.

But this time the floodwaters swept across Teepee Tonka in a rare autumn flood, wreaking havoc on a park that is now closed for the season due to all the damage.

Sunday afternoon I walked across the bridge, which just 10 days earlier had been covered by rushing Straight River waters that rose an estimated 10 feet. It seemed nearly improbable to me that the waters could already have receded this much, back into the confines of the river channel.

During the flood, the Straight River flooded the bridge into Teepee Tonka Park.

Waters have receded, allowing entry across the bridge into Teepee Tonka Park.

As I walked across the park, across the grass flattened to the earth, across ballpark fences slammed to the ground by the powerful floodwaters, past bleachers swung into awkward, out-of-place positions, I marveled at the force of nature. Imagine how impressed I would be with buildings shoved by the angry river.

Floodwaters twisted and flattened ballpark fences, swirled bleachers and redeposited sand.

A displaced dead tree limb in the ball field.

But on this Sunday afternoon, calmness prevailed. A young boy dug, with his parents, in piles of sand, for earthworms. And nearby, within its banks, the Straight River, which is misnamed given its winding path, flowed strong and steady.

During the flood, the Straight River rose over the Teepee Tonka bridge in the foreground and overflowed its banks underneath the viaduct in the background.

I shot this image of the Straight River from the Teepee Tonka bridge Sunday afternoon.

Floodwaters have receded from under the viaduct just outside Teepee Tonka Park.

I took this photo during the flood, when the Straight River overflowed its banks under the viaduct.

© Copyright 2010 Audrey Kletscher Helbling