Two unmanned barges that broke loose on the swollen Arkansas River in Oklahoma crashed into a dam hours later and sank Thursday, and they didn't cause the structure to fail, which officials feared might happen.
The barges carrying about 3,800 pounds (1,725 kilograms) of phosphate fertilizer between them became unmoored Wednesday night in the Port of Muskogee, which sits at the confluence of the Arkansas and two other rivers and is about 40 miles (65 kilometers) southeast of Tulsa.
At some point, the vessels were caught and secured to trees along the soggy riverbank, but they broke free again Thursday when the trees uprooted, said Tricia Germany, a spokeswoman for the Muskogee County Emergency Management Agency.
The barges eventually crashed into the dam near the town of Webbers Falls shortly before noon and quickly sank.
"They did a direct hit, they kind of turned a little bit," Germany said of the crash.
Webbers Falls officials on Wednesday ordered the town's roughly 600 residents to evacuate due to the threat of flooding from the swollen river, which was at 42 feet (12.8 meters) as of 11:45 a.m. Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. That is 14 feet (4.27 meters) above flood stage. Later Wednesday, they sounded the alarm about the runaway barges on the town's Facebook page, warning they could hit the lock and dam: "If the dam breaks, it will be catastrophic!! Leave now!!"
The lock and dam didn't break, though the Army Corps of Engineers was going to closely inspect them for damage, said Kenna Mitchell, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Transportation. Two downstream bridges, including an Interstate 40 bridge, remained closed after the crash until further notice.
"We don't know how long that's going to be. Safety is the priority for this," Mitchell said.
If the warning about the runaway barges seems alarmist, it shouldn't: During Memorial Day weekend in 2002, a manned barge struck one of the I-40 bridge's supports, causing part of the bridge to collapse and killing 14 people whose vehicles plunged into the river.
As for the fertilizer that was on the runaway barges, the amount that got into the river is significant but should dilute quickly because of the waterway's heavy flow, said Jay Wright, environmental programs manager for the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Management.
"It's soluble in water. If it's exposed to the water, it's going to dissolve in the water," he said.
The crash happened during a period of powerful storms in the central United States, including a system that spawned deadly tornadoes overnight. The wet weather has caused heaving flooding, and the threat from swollen waterways persists.
On Wednesday, at least one unoccupied home fell into the Cimarron River near Crescent, Oklahoma, about 35 miles (55 kilometers) north of Oklahoma City, and erosion left several homes hanging over the swollen current.
One death has been attributed to the flooding in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol said 53-year-old Laura Renee Moorman of Perkins drowned Tuesday after she drove around a road barrier and her vehicle was swept away by water near Perkins, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) northeast of Oklahoma City.
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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian court on Friday ordered the detention of the country’s farm minister in the latest high-profile corruption investigation, while Kyiv security officials assessed how they can recover lost battlefield momentum in the war against Russia.
Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court ruled that Agriculture Minister Oleksandr Solskyi should be held in custody for 60 days, but he was released after paying bail of 75 million hryvnias ($1.77 million), a statement said.
Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau suspects Solskyi headed an organized crime group that between 2017 and 2021 unlawfully obtained land worth 291 million hryvnias ($6.85 million) and attempted to obtain other land worth 190 million hryvnias ($4.47 million).
Ukraine is trying to root out corruption that has long dogged the country. A dragnet over the past two years has seen Ukraine’s defense minister, top prosecutor, intelligence chief and other senior officials lose their jobs.
That has caused embarrassment and unease as Ukraine receives tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid to help fight Russia’s army, and the European Union and NATO have demanded widespread anti-graft measures before Kyiv can realize its ambition of joining the blocs.
In Ukraine's capital, doctors and ambulance crews evacuated patients from a children’s hospital on Friday after a video circulated online saying Russia planned to attack it.
Parents hefting bags of clothes, toys and food carried toddlers and led young children from the Kyiv City Children’s Hospital No. 1 on the outskirts of the city. Medics helped them into a fleet of waiting ambulances to be transported to other facilities.
In the video, a security official from Russian ally Belarus alleged that military personnel were based in the hospital. Kyiv city authorities said that the claim was “a lie and provocation.”
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that civic authorities were awaiting an assessment from security services before deciding when it was safe to reopen the hospital.
“We cannot risk the lives of our children,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold online talks Friday with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which has been the key international organization coordinating the delivery of weapons and other aid to Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said late Thursday that the meeting would discuss how to turn around Ukraine’s fortunes on the battlefield. The Kremlin’s forces have gained an edge over Kyiv’s army in recent months as Ukraine grappled with a shortage of ammunition and troops.
Russia, despite sustaining high losses, has been taking control of small settlements as part of its effort to drive deeper into eastern Ukraine after capturing the city of Avdiivka in February, the U.K. defense ministry said Friday.
It’s been slow going for the Kremlin’s troops in eastern Ukraine and is likely to stay that way, according to the Institute for the Study of War. However, the key hilltop town of Chasiv Yar is vulnerable to the Russian onslaught, which is using glide bombs — powerful Soviet-era weapons that were originally unguided but have been retrofitted with a navigational targeting system — that obliterate targets.
“Russian forces do pose a credible threat of seizing Chasiv Yar, although they may not be able to do so rapidly,” the Washington-based think tank said late Thursday.
It added that Russian commanders are likely seeking to advance as much as possible before the arrival in the coming weeks and months of new U.S. military aid, which was held up for six months by political differences in Congress.
While that U.S. help wasn’t forthcoming, Ukraine’s European partners didn’t pick up the slack, according to German’s Kiel Institute for the World Economy, which tracks Ukraine support.
“The European aid in recent months is nowhere near enough to fill the gap left by the lack of U.S. assistance, particularly in the area of ammunition and artillery shells,” it said in a report Thursday.
Ukraine is making a broad effort to take back the initiative in the war after more than two years of fighting. It plans to manufacture more of its own weapons in the future, and is clamping down on young people avoiding conscription, though it will take time to process and train any new recruits.
Jill Lawless contributed to this report.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Ukrainian young acting student Gleb Batonskiy plays piano in a public park in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
