Staff photo by Clay Schuldt At over 14 feet, the Cottonwood River has already flooded a section of Cottonwood street blocking access to town homes. If the river rises beyond 20 feet, these homes will be at risk for flooding.

NEW ULM — The Cottonwood River fell from 17.5 feet to 14.67 feet over several hours Tuesday as ice jams holding the river back gave way.

The National Weather Service (NWS) Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service forecast the river to rise gradually over the next few days to 16.9 feet on Tuesday, March 26.

The forecast is based on expected snowmelt. Temperatures will continue to warm this week and lead to a prolonged melting period. The NWS will monitor the developing situation and issue follow-up statements as conditions or forecasts change.

The flood warning for the Cottonwood River at New Ulm continues until further notice. Moderate flooding is occurring and major flooding is forecast. Major flood stage in New Ulm is 16 feet.

A flood warning continues for the Cottonwood River above Springfield; the Redwood River at Redwood Falls; and the Minnesota River at New Ulm, Morton, affecting Renville County; Savage affecting Dakota, Hennepin and Scott Counties; Mankato affecting Blue Earth and Nicollet Counties; Henderson and TH 19 affecting Le Sueur, Scott and Sibley Counties; and near Jordan affecting Carver and Scott Counties.

Moderate flooding is occurring and is forecast for the Cottonwood River above Springfield. The river was observed at 27 feet at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday. It is forecast to rise to near 28.3 feet by Friday night, then begin falling. Flood stage is 22 feet.

The Brown County Planning & Zoning Office, second floor, Brown County Courthouse has a limited supply of flood clean up kits available free of charge. Limit one kit per household.

Brown County Emergency Management has obtained sandbags for residents of Brown County, at to cost of use for flood protection. Please contact Brown County Planning and Zoning at 507-233-6640 for release of bags to you.

The sandbags are located at the Brown County Highway Department, 1901 North Jefferson Street, New Ulm.

The City of New Ulm made 150,000 sandbags available to the public during regular hours. Within the first 15 minutes the sandbags were available one New Ulm resident took 33,000 bags as a precaution.

New Ulm is also providing paper instructions with diagram on how to construct a sandbag berm. Basic instructions for building a sandbag berm is to build the berm with a base three times wider than the height.

A berm five feet in height should have a 15-foot-wide base. The five-foot-tall berm would around a total of 119 bags per foot or 11,850 bags per 100 feet in length. A finished berm can be sealed with a sheet of plastic to improve water tightness.

City of New Ulm residents can go to the New Ulm Street Department located at 2020 N. Broadway (after 1 p.m. March 20) to obtain sandbags.

Brown County residents can obtain the bags between the hours of 7:15 a.m. and 3:45 p.m. Monday through Friday. Property owners are responsible for obtaining the sand, and filling the bags.

Proper disposal of the sand and sandbags is the homeowner’s responsibility. Instructions for disposal will be available in the near future.

For more information, visit www.co.brown.mn.us; and https://water.weather.gov/.