Event narrative (NOAA)
At least 50 mudslides were reported across the county with four state highways and eight county roads closed. At one point 20 roads were closed across the county. Some homes collapsed or were carried away by mudslides. Numerous railroad tracks and bridges washed out. There were numerous reports of injuries. Hardest hit communities included Houston, Hokah, La Crescent and Brownsville. A 25 foot earthen dam near Hokah, which was built in 1921, collapsed. This caused significant damage to a portion of the town, including the main park and an automobile dealership. First calls of flooding began around 9:30 p.m. Saturday August 18 to dispatch center, with flooding problems becoming exceedingly worse afterwards.||4,200 homes were reportedly damaged or destroyed.
Other notable flash flood events in Minnesota
Source: NOAA/NCEI Storm Events Database. Deaths and injuries are those NOAA classifies as direct. Damage is the reporting office's estimate at the time and is not inflation-adjusted. This is a catalogue record, not a forecast.