Change of Seasons Exposes St. Anthony Residences to the Risk of Storm-Related Flooding

12/21/2020 (Permalink)

SERVPRO takes care of the storm damage from snowmelt and flooding as you enjoy your day at the Village of St Anthony's Community Center

SERVPRO to the Rescue When Severe Winter Weather in St. Anthony Creates Snowmelt Flooding

The Village of St. Anthony looks back on over 100 years of history and change before its municipal incorporation in 1945 and its gradual transformation into an inner-ring suburb of Minneapolis. Approximately four and a half miles northeast from the Mississippi River Falls with which it shares a name, the current St. Anthony is but a part of a much larger tract of land with a complicated past.

What Was the Allure of St. Anthony Falls in the Mid-1800s?

In 1838 a half-mile of riverfront adjacent to St. Anthony Falls was claimed by a Fort Snelling storekeeper named Franklin Steele. Steele was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, but was encouraged by his brother-in-law and first Governor of Minnesota, Henry Hastings Sibley, to try his luck on the frontier. Steele beat out the Fort Snelling commander Joseph Plympton, staking his claim to the land next to the falls before dawn on the first legal settlement day. Steele's claim controlled half of the water power of St. Anthony Falls. Ten years later, he completed a dam and began using the hydro-power for a sawmill and building his fortune. The town developing on Steele's east side of the mighty Mississippi was called St. Anthony. Steele bought the land upon which Fort Snelling stood in 1858. After acquiring more land in the area, Steele donated four acres of the settlement of St. Anthony to the brand-new University of Minnesota in 1851. The University still stands downriver from the falls and location of Steel's mills, that topography soon to include the flour mills owned by the Washburn, Crosby, and Pillsbury families.

What Happened to the St. Anthony Settlement?

Meanwhile, the town of Minneapolis was growing on the west side of the river. The two municipalities physically connected in 1854 with a suspension bridge above the falls -- the Mississippi's first bridge at any point of its course. Minneapolis absorbed the smaller, east bank community of St. Anthony, with an official annexation by 1872. This area of Minneapolis was home to mill workers who were often immigrants from Eastern Europe. The area became known as Northeast Minneapolis, a designation that stands to this day. Near the river, the old town of St. Anthony still lives on in neighborhood names, blocks filled with boarding houses, dozens of Catholic and Orthodox churches, and breweries -- historical and the new wave of craft endeavors. Working mills and ruins of abandoned or damaged mills decorate the riverbanks.

How Is the Current Suburb of St. Anthony Connected to Old St. Anthony

After the annexation of the river town St. Anthony by Minneapolis, approximately 1,000 acres of agricultural land north and east of the growing city continued to be called St. Anthony. Farms and cemeteries were the primary use of this land into the mid of the 20th century.

• Lewis Stone, a prominent citizen of the original St. Anthony, homesteaded land just to the south of the space occupied by the below-described St. Mary's Russian Orthodox Cathedral Cemetery.
• He determined to donate some of that real estate to provide a potter's field, called St. Anthony Township Cemetery.
• According to a plaque on the location, he desired that the land be "used exclusively for ... the public as a common and free burying ground forever ... "
• Post-WWII homes encroached the potter's field edges, but some graves are still tended, although the last burial was in the 1920s.
• Artist and architect Elizabeth Gleason Thompson crafted a piece called "Generation," commissioned and dedicated in 1979 by the city of St. Anthony, installed on the knoll of the cemetery.
• Mary's Russian Orthodox Cathedral is eight blocks from the Mississippi River amid the oldest part of Northeast Minneapolis.
• Mary's began as an eastern-rite Catholic church, attended by Carpatho-Rusyn immigrants. Most of them came from Becherov, Komlosa, Stebnik, and Regetovka in an area north of Presov in eastern Slovakia.
• Founded in 1887, it located its still manicured and well-administered cemetery two and a half miles away, off of today's Stinson Boulevard, in what is now part of the modern Village of St. Anthony.

Can St. Anthony Homeowners Limit Snowmelt Flooding Risk?

Although the Village of St. Anthony is several miles away from the Mississippi River, plenty of other seasonal flooding risks impact the community. The average annual snowfall in the region is 45.3 inches. We can expect at least 100 days yearly of at least 1 inch of snow cover. Snow is also often mixed with ice, sleet, and rain, increasing the possibility of flood water incursion.

How Does Melted Snow Make Its Way Inside?

Flood damage in St. Anthony due to snowmelt traces the variety of pathways the water found through vulnerable spots in your home. One prominent type of leak is through cracks in the foundation, as water pools adjacent to the house and is held in by banks of unmelted snow. Another significant variant of snowmelt flooding comes topside when ice dams form:

• Poorly sealed and under-insulated attic or top levels permit warm air to escape.
• Snow on roof eaves and in gutters begin a thaw and freeze cycle (warming sign -- those "beautiful" icicles).
• Liquid water seeps inside and drains down walls, sometimes between the interior and exterior surfaces.
• Water flooding through this way can:
• Destroy drywall and plaster.
• Warp wood framing.
• Create a perfect environment for mold growth.
• Can direct a substantial amount of snowmelt to pool in lower levels -- it is not uncommon for an ice dam to damage a dining or living room floor two or three stories below the roof.

What Can SERVPRO Do to Resolve the Flood Damage?

Our workforce holds certifications from the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC) focused on rapid water removal and structural drying. Our experience with snowmelt flooding also supports practical recommendations to mitigate or altogether avoid snowmelt flooding in the future:

• Remove snow from your house's perimeter and create drain "ditches" in the snowbanks so water moves away from your foundation.
• Keep gutters and downspouts cleared of leaves and other debris to minimize ice dam development.
• Upgrade insulation and seal roof edges to limit the escape of warm air.

Reach out to SERVPRO of Northeast Minneapolis when the surrounding snowpack floods your dwelling as the weather warms or rain and sleet adds to the mix. Our service vehicles are ready, and our trained crews are poised to respond after your call to (612) 421-2040.