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Rain, rain go away: Red Cedar highest since 2001

April 21, 2013
	<p>The flooded Red Cedar River encroaches on the lawn space behind the Auditorium on Sunday. The river crested at 7.9 feet. Julia Nagy/The State News</p>

The flooded Red Cedar River encroaches on the lawn space behind the Auditorium on Sunday. The river crested at 7.9 feet. Julia Nagy/The State News

Photo by Julia Nagy | The State News

Brought on by the wettest month in the history of April in the Lansing area, the flooding of the Red Cedar River reached 7.69 feet this weekend, the highest level since February 2001.

On Sunday, the Botanical Gardens partially were drowned in flooded waters. Trees sprouted from a pool of water engulfing Old College Field, and the Red Cedar River became a new practice ground for student surfers.

As of 2:45 p.m. Sunday, the Red Cedar River was at 7.4 feet, said William Marino, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service Grand Rapids.

Dietetics freshman Jackie Winkler said she’s been surprised by how much higher the Red Cedar River has gotten during the past week.

“Every time I go over there, it gets bigger and bigger,” she said.

The highest the Red Cedar River has been was 13.4 feet, dating back to March 1904.

“MSU officials have been closely monitoring weather developments this week and the potential for flooding on campus,” MSU spokesman Kent Cassella said in a statement. “At this time, flooding has been limited to several walkways and open areas along the Red Cedar River.”

Since the beginning of the month, 6.76 inches of rain has fallen, beating the previous record of the wettest April with 6.49 inches, set in 2009, he said.

Marino said by April 28, the river might be down to 5 feet and at this time of year, the normal height of the river is around 3 feet.

“At the rate it’s flowing, it would take three or four weeks to get down to that level,” he said.

Marino said the rain started falling April 8 and continued almost every day through April 19. From April 8-11 and April 16-19, about 3 inches of rain fell in both time frames.

“The thing that counts the most is the amount of rain fall versus the amount of time it took to fall,” he said. “If (the rain was) distributed evenly over the month, it would be a different story.”

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