, 
, 
, 
, 
, 
, 
An all-day deluge flooded basements and overfilled ponds and streams Thursday, Sept. 15, and Luverne appears to have borne the brunt of the slow-moving system.
By midday, gauges in Luverne had measured more than 3 inches of water, and the rain kept coming — in heavy, pounding sheets throughout the afternoon.
Storm sewers had trouble getting rid of water, and traffic on South Highway 75 sent crashing waves up and over the boulevards.
Windshield wipers in high gear had trouble keeping up, making travel even more difficult for motorists.
Meanwhile, in rural Rock County, rushing currents washed out bridges and township roads, and farm fields got another unwelcome soaking.
Repeated moisture — and especially Thursday’s rainfall — is adding to farmers’ concerns about wet conditions and stress on crops that should be drying out for harvest.
Images on Facebook told the story as the water levels rose.
The fairgrounds racetrack was under water (a million gallons were pumped off to prepare for Saturday’s race), as was Redbird Field, which drained on its own.
Poplar Creek and the Rock River spilled their banks and flooded nearby low-lying areas.
Images of the Veterans Home Pond showed how close it got to spilling over. Rocks that line the edges of the pond were completely under water, and the intake drain was nearly submerged.
By the time it was over around 5 p.m. some rain gauges had measured more than 6 inches of rain. Bruce Thalhuber at the K-101/KQAD studio reported 6.84 inches as of 5:34 a.m. Friday, Sept. 16.
Rainfall totals varied widely around the county, with Jasper reporting under two inches and Magnolia more than 4 inches.