‘I just don't know how it happens': Minnesota lake nearly entirely drained after ‘mechanical issue'

Independent

a day ago

A lake near the Twin Cities has reportedly been completely drained due to a "mechanical issue."
Local officials are working to restore Alice Lake in William O'Brien State Park back to its typical depth of nine-feet deep after it was accidentally drained.
Recent rainstorms in the area flooded the lake, causing its waters to spill over into the nearby St Croix River.
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources workers opened a valve allowing some of the excess water to flow out, but that valve was left open and nearly the entire lake drained.
"When the water level was back to what it should be, the staff attempted to close that valve, but the mechanism that closes that valve was not functioning, and the valve could not be closed," Sara Berhow of the state's Parks & Trails agency told CBS News.
Berhow said that state workers are fixing the water control structure that malfunctioned and will restore the lake to its previous state.
"Once the valve is able to be closed again, the streams will replenish the water in the lakes, so it will naturally come back to the level," she said.
According to the state's Parks and Trails department, once the valve has been repaired it will take approximately a month before the lake returns to normal levels.
Seeing the lake in its current state — empty — was a shock to local residents.
"It's crazy, for this to happen, I just don't know how it happens," one resident, Dane Zierman, told the broadcaster. "It's insane. You just start driving down, and you see all these weeds and there's just no water."
Unfortunately, many of the lake's fish didn't survive the ordeal. When locals approach to shoreline, they are met with a field of dead fish where water once was.
"As soon as you get on the dock, you just see all of these dead fish. There's some big guys in here, too, some big giant carp, some big northerns, it's just devastating," Zierman said.