Zumbro Falls mayor assess flood damage

Last week's record-breaking rains in Southern Minnesota are moving downstream.

Minnesota's Department of Transportation has closed Highways 101 and 41 in Shakopee and Chaska as water levels continue to rise in the Minnesota River valley. City administrators in both cities aren't expecting the same kind of major flood damage that some towns in southern Minnesota saw this weekend.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty plans to call a one-day special session early next month to provide assistance to flooded communities.

"These communities will be rebuilt," the governor said. "It won't always be easy but it will get done. We know from past floods, unfortunately many of them in recent years, Minnesota communities have time and time again rebuilt, oten times stronger than before the floods and that will happen again."

Pawlenty couldn't say how much the flood relief will cost the state but he said federal funds passed by Congress over the summer will help pay for it.

Residents of Zumbro Falls were evacuated over the weekend as the Zumbro River washed through homes and businesses.

Mayor Alan VanDeWalker joined All Things Considered host Tom Crann on the phone as he assesses the damage there now that the waters have receded.