Rising waters on the Blue Earth River in Minnesota washed out a portion of the Rapidan Dam near the town of Mankato, 50 miles southwest of Minneapolis, as floods inundated parts of the Midwest.
State authorities said emergency services teams were on the ground and monitoring the situation closely.
“There’s a serious situation in and around Mankato with the Rapidan Dam potentially failing,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D) said in a post on social media. Minnesota’s Star Tribune newspaper reported that the dam was in “imminent failure condition,” citing Blue Earth County officials.
Jeremy Brennan, chief deputy at Blue Earth County Sheriff’s Office, told The Washington Post late Monday that the dam is “still standing.”
“The water cut away some land at the west side and is now free flowing,” he said, adding that residents downstream who are in proximity to the river had been notified. The county has not issued evacuation orders, Brennan said.
“Nobody has dealt with such a situation before. Managing the people who are coming out to view the dam and keeping them safe is a big challenge,” he said. Video from the scene showed a lone house on the bank, close to fast-moving water carrying tree branches and structural debris.
The National Weather Service’s flash flood warning for the Blue Earth River is in place until Tuesday morning local time, the agency said.
Officials from the city of North Mankato said they built a 34.6-foot earth wall levee as a precautionary measure. “Currently the river level is at 28.92 ft and predicted to crest at 29.6 ft on Tuesday,” the city said in a statement posted on social media.
“If the Rapidan Dam does fail, engineers on-site predict an increase in the river levels of 6 inches to 2 ft, depending on location downstream,” it said at 6:19 p.m. local time Monday, adding that no evacuations or preparations from residents were needed at that time.
The Rapidan Dam is more than 100 years old. Damage from regular flooding over the years has prompted questions over its future, according to the Blue Earth County website.
Flooding that spread across parts of Iowa, South Dakota and Minnesota this past weekend is forecast to worsen Tuesday as rivers continue to rise, and meteorologists warn that any additional rain from possible thunderstorms could extend or heighten the risks of inundation.
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(c) Washington Post
