The picture below was taken on the way to Duluth from Silver Bay after our first night stay. We heard that there was flooding and some road closures in Duluth so when we saw all the cars parked on the side of the road before the bridge, we were worried that the road was closed. But as we got closer we saw the rushing water and realized that we, too, would be parking to take pictures. That water was ROARING so much that we had to yell to hear each other.
After seeing the devastation first hand, we decided to cancel our room for the second night and just go home. We heard that I-35 out of Duluth was closed so I thought it would be fun to joggle back up the hill to the mall area and get out of the city on higher ground. After an hour of hitting blocked or flooded streets in Duluth we found that the mall area was just as bad as everywhere else. (At a gas station where we asked for directions to avoid closed roads, someone said there was 4 ft of water in the Target store by the mall. ) We followed the directions a friendly attendant gave us only to find more roads under water and closed. The picture below pretty much sums up the drive home. We were in the car for 10 hours trying to get home. I can't count how may times we backtracked, hit detours, or drove over water covered roads.
I've posted a PDF from Minnesota Public Radio with pictures and captions that we found interesting. Click here to download the file.
