Saturday morning storm causes flash flooding in Yellow River State Forest ...

Although rain was very much needed in the local area as drought conditions prevailed through most of the month of June, the early Saturday morning, June 27 storm that passed through the area brought too much of it at once for creek beds and many roadways to handle in southeast Allamakee County and the Yellow River State Forest specifically, as pictured above with rushing water crossing roadways and causing wash-outs in many locations. Amounts hovering on either side of the seven-inch mark have been reported for rainfall totals from the storm in the vicinity of Harpers Ferry and the State Forest area, with that storm dumping reports of as much as nine inches of rain just across the Mississippi River in Crawford County, WI, resulting in the National Weather Service issuing a Flash Flood Warning for southeast Allamakee County and in northeast Crawford County in Wisconsin from 6-9:30 a.m. that Saturday morning.

Under the leadership and guidance of now part-time Park Ranger Rylan Retallick, the Waterville and Harpers Ferry Fire Departments, Allamakee County Sheriff’s Department, State Forest staff and other local officials and volunteers safely evacuated the campground facilities at Yellow River State Forest throughout that day and those campground areas remained closed throughout the remainder of the weekend as Yellow River State Forest staff worked to assess and clean up impacted areas. Campground areas began to slowly open as of Monday, June 28 and are expected to be open in time for the upcoming holiday weekend, provided there is no additional heavy rainfall. Donahue Road and Firetower Road in Yellow River State Forest remained closed as of the print deadline for this edition of The Standard. Photo courtesy of the Friends of Yellow River State Forest.