With no state bonding bill in three of the last four years, flood mitigation funding is unreliable

HENDERSON, Minn. — A day after the Minnesota River crested, grayish-tan muddy water still lapped the edges of levees and covered some roads in this low-lying river city. Two of the main roads in and out of town flood nearly every spring, said Mayor Keith Swenson, and Henderson has been lobbying for nearly a decade for state funding to raise the road surface above the flood line. Construction started earlier this spring. Then the Minnesota River flooded again, submerging the construction projects. "They're dead in the water," Swenson said. Lawmakers...