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Massive rainfall floods Kandiyohi County, causes millions in damage

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Published  July 10, 2025 5:52pm CDT
Weather
FOX 9
Massive rainfall in Kandiyohi County causes millions in damage

Massive rainfall in Kandiyohi County causes millions in damage

A month?s worth of rain has caused millions of dollars in flood damage to residents in Kandiyohi County. FOX 9?s Corin Hoggard looks at the homes, farms and structures that went under water.

The Brief

    • Massive June rains spread for weeks through Kandiyohi County causing flooding that's only now starting to recede.
    • Hundreds of homes sustained damage. The average farmer has lost an estimated 30% of their crops. The county is estimating $14 million in public infrastructure damage.
    • County commissioners have requested a state disaster declaration, but state money would only cover repairs to about two-thirds of the public infrastructure damage and none of the damage to private property.

KANDIYOHI COUNTY, Minn. (FOX 9) - The possibility of rain is looming large in Kandiyohi County, where a month’s worth of downfalls has caused millions of dollars in damage.

Fast flooding, slow-moving

Massive rainfall:

They’ve seen at least 13 inches of rain there, with some gauges measuring more than 20 inches.

The waters of Big Kandiyohi Lake crept up the shoreline, past the docks and into several homes.

"Everybody is going to be suffering some type of damage of the 270-some property owners on the lake," said David Peterson, who chairs the Big Kandiyohi Lake Association.

As the water started to recede in the last few days, Peterson realized he can count himself as one of the lucky ones.

"We actually had two of our kayaks that washed away, one came back, one didn't, and property owners all over the lake have been subject to that, things floating away," Peterson said.

"It all started, I will not forget, June 13, Friday the 13th," said Sarah Leshuk.

Her nightmare slowly spread through flooded ditches from Willmar to Lake Wakanda to Big Kandiyohi Lake to Lake Lillian and through all the nearby land.

Generational damage?

Farms underwater:

Leshuk is the fourth generation of her family to farm here, dealing with flooding for a second straight year and wondering if they can afford a fifth generation.

Because of the flooding, a lot of her corn didn’t make it to knee-high by the Fourth of July, but some of the floodwaters did.

"That's where it’s really hard," Leshuk said. "I mean, how do you come back from this when you look at all the water and that’s a total loss?"

Some of the corn and soybeans have survived, but on average, farmers in Kandiyohi County lost 30% of their crops to flooding.

"Hopefully with insurance we’ll be able to stay above water and be able to farm another year, but it’ll be a tough one to come back from," said Leshuk.

Limited help could come

Disaster declaration desire:

County commissioners sent the governor a request for a state disaster declaration, but any money from the state would only go towards repairing an estimated $14 million in public infrastructure damage.

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