Fast Warm-Up Leads To Big Pools On MN Roads
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) --With the warm-up in temperatures, the March meltdown is officially on.
The city of Minneapolis had hundreds of calls Monday from people reporting streets flooded from snow melt.
"Starting about this morning, we've been getting 40 to 50 callers an hour," said Lisa Cerney, the director of surface water and sewers for Minneapolis Public Works.
The melting snow has been hurting business for some shops along France Avenue in Edina, southwest of Minneapolis.
"There's only one area you can go from the parking lot to our shop," said Jeff Rysavy, the manager of General Sport. "It's been a little slow."
Last week, Minneapolis had crews out removing snow piles off catch basins, Cerney said.
But the big problem isn't the snow, it's frozen pipes. The winter's extreme cold has left many drains still clogged with ice, and the melt is far from over.
"As we get closer to the ground, there's more water in that snow so it takes a little longer to melt," said WCCO-TV director of meteorology Mike Augustyniak.
So when can we expect to see the green grass underneath?
"If we get no additional snow, which is a stretch, we're probably looking at three weeks or so," Augustyniak said.
