LA CROSSE, Wis. — Family members of Wisconsin’s Morning News host Vince Vitrano shared the following videos from the Mississippi River floods which are reportedly causing damage along the west side of the state, as well as Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois.
As shown in the video, Vitrano’s loved ones were forced to travel their neighborhood of La Crescent, Minnesota by boat due to the widespread flooding and damage in their area. Located across the Mississippi from La Crosse, this flooding has spread to parts of Western Wisconsin from the La Crosse area down through Prairie du Chien.
The following report was published by Scott McFetridge and Todd Richmond of the Associated Press, as of Wednesday afternoon:
“Communities along the Upper Mississippi River scrambled Wednesday as the always-massive river swelled to near-record levels, forcing some to evacuate while others downstream stacked sandbag walls and closed off flood-prone areas.
The river has grown so large because of a huge snowpack in northern Minnesota that began to quickly melt last week because of rising temperatures.
A small number of people had to leave their homes in Wisconsin as the river kept rising. Others stacked sandbags in the small community of Buffalo, Iowa, in anticipation of flooding this weekend and early next week.
The Mississippi was expected to be especially high along parts of Wisconsin and to crest Wednesday or early Thursday in La Crosse. In Iowa, forecasts predict the river will reach the third-highest level ever recorded when it crests Saturday about 160 miles to the south in Davenport, Iowa.”
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