Oakdale Police Department Swamped With Calls Due to Heavy Rains

When Oakdale resident Ann Hagestad began to pull out of her long, gravel-covered driveway Saturday morning to head to , she quickly saw a cavernous obstacle in her way.

Following heavy rains over the weekend, a sinkhole had formed in the driveway to her home in the 2800 block of Gresham Avenue.

“It was pretty crazy,” she said.

The sinkhole was 10 feet wide, 5 feet long, 3 feet deep and had exposed pipe and cables buried under the driveway, according to the Oakdale Police Department report.

Hagestad’s driveway is covered with gravel again, but she was still working Monday on cleaning up her basement, she said, which got flooded due to the rains.

Oakdale got 3 to 5 inches of rain over the weekend according to the National Weather Service.

Hagestad was one of many Oakdale residents to call police with concerns about flooding Saturday.

Around 6:30 a.m., an Oakdale woman called police to report that she was stranded in the middle of the road at Upper 35^th Street and Gresham Avenue because her vehicle had stalled in about a foot of water, according to an Oakdale Police Department report. She called a tow truck to move the vehicle.

At about 7 a.m. Saturday morning, an Oakdale woman called to report that her vehicle was submerged in 12 inches of water at Helena Avenue and Upper 26^th Street, according to an Oakdale Police Department report. Fire department members helped her get out of her car, the report says.

Other flooding-related reports to Oakdale police include:

• Water was covering the roadway at Helmo Avenue and Stillwater Boulevard at 9:18 a.m. Saturday.
• Water was covering the road on 10^th Street west of Inwood Avenue at 8:18 a.m. Saturday.
• Three ponds on Upper 26^th Street were flooding at 7:58 a.m. Saturday. Upon arrival an officer noted that city sewers were backed up in the area.
• A pond at 20^th Street and Homestead Avenue was flooding at 7:50 a.m. Saturday.
• A pond in the back yard in the 7800 block of Upper 26^th Street was flooding at 7:34 a.m. Saturday.
• Water was in the basement of a home in the 3200 block of Ideal Avenue at 10:17 a.m.
• A vehicle was stalled in water at Geneva Avenue and 40^th Street at 8 a.m. Saturday.
• A backyard pond in the 2200 block of Grange Avenue was overflowing at 2:48 p.m. Sunday.
• A resident in the 420 block of Glenbrook Avenue reported that Tanners Lake was rising and asked whether the city would provide sandbags at 1:25 p.m. Sunday.