Historic flooding in Murray County

By: Sheila Crowley

Murray County News Staffwriter

What should have been a time for family, friends and celebrating the fourth of July, turned into a time to come together and help save properties from rising waters.

For the past week, Murray County has been in the headlines leading many televisions stations as well as newspapers and radio as a result of heavy rains received on Tuesday, July 3rd.

When Governor Mark Dayton visited this area this past Friday morning he termed the flooding as a ‘castastrophe’. Unfortunately, until the water recedes, the total amount of the damages won’t be known.

Murray County declared a state of emergency on June 21st following the four to eight inches of rain received earlier that week. The rains impacted various public infrastructures throughout the county.

Another round of torrential rains were received July 2nd into July 3rd…this time dumping nearly 8 to 10 inches on the already saturated area. Reports of rainfall over the past two weeks reached between 15 to 18 inches. The Murray County Sheriff’s office reported all their entire department were out along with the Murray County Highway Department personnel assessing roads. Numerous locations were closed due to water over the road and travel was not recommended in Murray County.

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