A flood warning continued this morning for the Root River near Houston and affecting Houston County and the south branch of the Root River at Lanesboro affecting Fillmore and Houston County, the National Weather Service said.
Some residents of Houston County, in southeastern Minnesota, were "strongly encouraged" to evacuate to higher ground Sunday night because of flooding and mudslides after heavy weekend rains.
Houston County Emergency Manager Kurt Kuhlers said a voluntary evacuation was under way for some parts of the county. Authorities reported no injuries as of late Sunday.
The river is expected to rise above flood stage this afternoon and crest by around midnight, the weather service said.
The flood warning will remain in effect until flood waters drop below flood stage.
Meanwhile, communities in northern Iowa also were encountering record flooding, particularly along the Upper Iowa River, just south of Houston County.
"They’re so high we’re unable to get gauge readings," said meteorologist Todd Shea with the National Weather Service in La Crosse, Wis. "They’ve gone off the scale."
The Houston County Emergency Management Department sent out a civil emergency message containing the evacuation advisory. The weather service continued its flood warning this morning.
The Houston County Sheriff’s Department said Sunday evening that the area had received rain for about 24 hours and expected 10 to 12 more hours of rain into this morning. Several areas were flooded, and many roads were washed out and closed, a dispatcher said.
Mudslides were reported along Hwy. 26 south of Brownsville and on roads south of Spring Grove.
Root River flood warning
Southwestern portions of Houston County had received an unofficial total of 10.1 inches of rain over the weekend, pushing Root River tributaries well beyond flood stage but not yet to unprecedented levels, Shea said.
"Last August we saw pretty historic flash flooding across southeast Minnesota into southern Wisconsin," Shea said. "I don’t know if this is an exact duplicate, but it’s kind of in a similar nature."

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