Home collapses into flood-swollen river near Minnesota Dam amid storms

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A home teetering on an eroding riverbank near a Minnesota dam has collapsed into the river, the latest shocking example of extreme weather hitting the upper Midwest.

Video shows the white frame house collapsing into the swollen Blue Earth River near Mankato Tuesday evening. The west abutment of Rapidan Dam collapsed Monday, sending the river around the dam and eroding the bank where the house stood. The family had evacuated before the collapse.

“It’s a very scary and difficult situation,” Jenny Barnes, whose family owned the home and has operated the Dam Store for decades, told KARE-TV Tuesday before the home collapsed into the river. She was also worried about the store.

“This is our life, too. This is our business; this is our livelihood. This is everything to us,” Barnes said. “There’s no stopping him. He’ll go where he wants to go. He’ll take what he wants.”

Jessica Keech and her 11-year-old son saw part of the house fall into the river Tuesday evening. They had visited the area often to see the dam and enjoy homemade pie from the Dam Store.

“He was sucked in by the water. It literally disappeared,” said Keech, of New Ulm, a nearby town. “We didn’t see him going down the river at all. We haven't seen a single piece of it anywhere. »

Blue Earth County officials said Wednesday that there were dramatic changes around the dam overnight, with the river moving wider and deeper into the bank, and they are concerned about the integrity of the dam. a nearby bridge spanning the river. Once the flooding subsides, the county will have to decide whether to repair the dam or possibly remove it — both options costing millions of dollars.

County Administrator Robert Meyer said the debris that has washed into the river since Monday included not only the house and its fence, but also a power company substation, utility poles, a propane tank, county playground equipment, a satellite restroom, a dumpster, a steel shipping container used for storage and “many, many trees.”

“There is no attempt to save anything,” Meyer said at a news conference at the dam.

President Joe Biden spoke by phone with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to discuss impacts on Rapidan Dam and the Federal Emergency Management Agency is already on site, White House officials said .

Parts of Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota and Minnesota have been besieged by flooding from torrential rains since last week, while also suffering from a scorching heat wave. Up to 18 inches of rain has fallen in some areas, pushing some rivers to record levels. Hundreds of people have been rescued, homes have been damaged and at least two people have died after driving through flooded areas.

Warnings of tornadoes, flash flooding and large hail Tuesday night added insult to injury for some Midwesterners. The National Weather Service said several tornadoes were reported in Iowa and Nebraska. The service was assessing damage to some buildings, crops and trees to confirm if tornadoes had touched down. No major injuries were reported.

The weather service also extended flood warnings to several area rivers. Floodwaters breached levees in Iowa on Tuesday, creating dangerous conditions that prompted evacuations.

Early information from the weather service shows that recent flooding has brought record water levels to more than a dozen locations in South Dakota and Iowa, surpassing previous peaks by about 0.5 meter on average.

In southeastern South Dakota, residents of Canton were cleaning up after receiving 18 to 20 inches (46 to 51 centimeters) of rain in just 36 hours last week. A creek next to Lori Lems and her husband's 20 acres flooded the playground they had built in their backyard for their grandchildren.

Lems, 62, a former convenience store and wedding venue owner, said she has lived in the town of 3,200 her entire life and has never seen rain as intense as last week's.

“It felt like we were in torrential rain,” she said. “It was just incredible. »

Further south, in North Sioux City, South Dakota, flooding destroyed utility poles and trees, and some homes were swept away. There was no water, sewer, gas or electric service in that area, Union County Emergency Management said in a Facebook post Tuesday.

In the Sioux City, Iowa, area, water poured over the Big Sioux River levee, damaging hundreds of homes, officials estimated. And the local sewage treatment plant has been so overwhelmed by floodwaters that officials say they have to dump about a million gallons (3.8 million liters) of untreated sewage into the water every day. the Missouri River.

Many roads were closed due to flooding, including Interstates 29 and 680 in Iowa, near the Nebraska line.

To the east, in Iowa, towns are bracing for flooding. The Des Moines River is expected to reach a height of nearly 5 meters in Humboldt overnight Thursday into Friday. About 200 homes and 60 businesses in Humboldt could be affected, and about 68,000 sandbags have been deployed, authorities said.

In the coming days, southeastern Nebraska and northwestern Missouri are expected to begin feeling the downstream effects of devastating flooding in South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa. Many streams and rivers may not crest until later this week. The Missouri will crest in Omaha on Thursday, said Kevin Low, a weather service hydrologist.

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Collins reported from Hartford, Connecticut. Associated Press reporters Summer Ballentine in Jefferson City, Missouri, and John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, contributed to this report.

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This story corrected the name of the river where the house collapsed. It is the Blue Earth River, not the Big Earth River.

Photo: This drone photo provided by AW Aerial shows a house teetering before partially collapsing into the Blue Earth River at Rapidan Dam in Rapidan, Minn., Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (Andrew Weinzierl/AW Aerial via AP )

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