DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A house that was teetering on the edge of an eroding riverbank near a Minnesota dam collapsed into the river in the latest jarring example of extreme weather gripping the upper Midwest.
Video shows most of the house owned by the Barnes family falling into the flood-swollen Blue Earth River near Mankato on Tuesday night. The dam's west abutment failed Monday, sending the river around the dam and eroding the bank where the home sat. The family had evacuated the house before the collapse.
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In this photo provided by the Minnesota Governor’s Office, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz surveys flood damage over southern Minn., Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (Courtesy of the Minnesota Governor’s Office)
La Hansen, left, and her husband, Chuck, stroll about a partially flooded downtown Waterville, Minn., on Tuesday, June 25, 2024. La said it is the first time she has been out since Sunday. (Casey Ek/The Free Press via AP)
Kason Fisher wheels past flood waters from Sakatah Lake in downtown Waterville, Minn., on Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (Casey Ek/The Free Press via AP)
Heavy rains in recent days have submerged farmland near Vermillion, S.D., on Tuesday, June 25, 2024. Flooding has devastated communities in several states across the Midwest. (Jake Hoffner via AP)
An onlooker stands on a road barrier as waters rush by the Rapidan Dam in Rapidan, Minn., Monday, June 24, 2024. Waters from the Blue Earth River diverted the dam amid recent heavy rainfalls. (Casey Ek/The Free Press via AP)
The Rapidan Dam in Rapidan, Minn., wears the damage after a partial collapse of the west bank, Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (Casey Ek/The Free Press via AP)
Debris is shown stuck on the Grand Avenue Bridge over the Little Sioux River as a sump pump forces water back into the river, in Spencer, Iowa, Tuesday, June 25, 2024. The bridge was closed to traffic as of noon Tuesday. (Tim Hynds/Sioux City Journal via AP)
Volunteer Tyron Berkenpas, an employee of Maintainer Corporation in Sheldon, Iowa, removes a bag of flood-damaged items, Tuesday, June 25, 2024, from the basement of a home on East Second Street in Spencer, Iowa. Spencer, population of about 11,400, is recovering after the Little Sioux River flooded a large section of the city this past weekend. Officials there say about 40% of properties in the city were affected by the flooding. (Tim Hynds/Sioux City Journal via AP)
Floodwaters rush over a collapsed railroad bridge over the Big Sioux River near North Sioux City, S.D., on Monday, June 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Josh Jurgens)
Jared Gerlock, left, and his son, Robbie, carry a bin of water-logged stuffed animals, out of the flood-damaged basement of their home on East Second St. in Spencer, Iowa Tuesday, June 25, 2024. Officials say about 40% of properties in the city were affected after the Little Sioux River flooded. (Tim Hynds/Sioux City Journal via AP)
A small U.S. flag stands in a flooded yard in Waterville. Minn., Tuesday, June 25, 2024. A vast swath of lands from eastern Nebraska and South Dakota to Iowa and Minnesota has been under siege from flooding of torrential rains since last week, while also being hit with a scorching heat wave. (Casey Ek/The Free Press via AP)
Rachel Morsching sits Tuesday, June 25, 2024, on the flooded porch of her father Dean Roemhildt's home in Waterville., Minn. Waters from the nearby Tetonka and Sakatah lakes have encroached on the town amid recent heavy rains. (Casey Ek/The Free Press via AP)
The innards of a house near the Rapidan Dam in Rapidan, Minn., are visible as waters from the Blue Earth River rush by, Monday, June 24, 2024. (Casey Ek/The Free Press via AP)
Crews survey the area surrounding the Rapidan Dam from a lift, Monday, June, 24, 2024, in Rapidan, Minn. (Casey Ek/The Free Press via AP)
A shipping container barrels down the Blue Earth River, Monday, June 24, 2024, in Rapidan, Minn., after waters from the waterway diverted the Rapidan Dam, causing massive damage to the western cliffs. (Casey Ek/The Free Press via AP)
A tornado is seen near Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Tuesday, June 25, 2024. More severe weather was forecast to move into the region Tuesday, potentially bringing large hail, damaging winds and even a brief tornado or two in parts of western Iowa and eastern Nebraska, according to the National Weather Service. (Nick Rohlman/The Gazette via AP)
Heavy rains in recent days have submerged farmland near Vermillion, S.D., on Tuesday, June 25, 2024. Flooding has devastated communities in several states across the Midwest. (Jake Hoffner via AP)
Onlookers take in the catastrophic damage to the Rapidan Dam site in Rapidan, Minn., Monday, June 24, 2024. Debris blocked the dam forcing the heavily backed up waters of the Blue Earth River to reroute along the bank nearest the Dam Store. (Casey Ek/The Free Press via AP)
“It’s been a very scary and hard situation,” Jenny Barnes, whose family has run the nearby Dam Store for decades, told KARE-TV on Tuesday before the house fell into the river. She also was worried about the store.
“That’s our life, as well. That’s our business; that’s our livelihood. It’s everything to us,” Barnes said. “There’s no stopping it. It’s going to go where it wants to go. It’s going to take what it wants to take.”
Blue Earth County officials said Wednesday that there were dramatic changes around the dam overnight, with the river cutting more widely and deeply into the bank, and they are concerned about the integrity of a nearby bridge over the river.
A swath through Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota and Minnesota has been under siege from flooding because of torrential rains since last week, while also suffering through a scorching heat wave. Up to 18 inches (46 centimeters) of rain have fallen in some areas, pushing some rivers to record levels. Hundreds of people were rescued, homes were damaged and at least two people died after driving in flooded areas.
Tornado warnings, flash flooding and large hail Tuesday night also added insult to injury for some people in the Midwest. The weather service on Tuesday night also extended flood warnings for multiple rivers in the region. Earlier Tuesday, floodwaters breached levees in Iowa, creating dangerous conditions that prompted evacuations.
Preliminary information from the weather service shows the recent flooding brought record-high river levels at more than a dozen locations in South Dakota and Iowa, surpassing previous crests by an average of about 3.5 feet (0.5 meters). The Big Sioux River reached nearly 41 feet (12 meters) in Hawarden, Iowa, on Saturday and nearly 45 feet (14 meters) in Sioux City, Iowa, on Monday, exceeding previous highs by 5 to 7 feet (1.5 to 2.1 meters), respectively.
In South Dakota, Kathy Roberts lost nearly everything she had when she escaped flooding Sunday night with her cat and the clothes on her back, KTIV-TV reported.
“I heard screaming outside and looked outside and I had neighbors that had water rushing into their place and water was slowly rising in my driveway,” Roberts said. “Within eight minutes, I was leaving my house and driving through water that was up over my step rails on my jeep.”
In the residential development where Roberts lived in North Sioux City, streets, utility poles and trees collapsed and some homes were washed off their foundations. There was no water, sewer, gas or electrical service in that area, Union County Emergency Management said Tuesday in a Facebook post.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem said in a post on the social platform X Tuesday night that people needed to stay out of the area unless escorted by public safety officials.
“We are working on a schedule for families to get their belongings,” Noem said. “Until then, downed power lines, sinkholes, and other threats make it too dangerous to go in alone.”
The sheriff's office in Monona County, near the Nebraska border, said the Little Sioux River breached levees in several areas. In neighboring Woodbury County, the sheriff’s office posted drone video on Facebook showing the river overflowing the levee and flooding land in rural Smithland. No injuries were immediately reported.
In the Sioux City, Iowa, area, water spilled over the Big Sioux River levee, damaging hundreds of homes, officials estimated. And the local wastewater treatment plant has been so overwhelmed by the floodwaters that officials say they're having to dump about a million gallons (3.8 million liters) of untreated sewage per day into the Missouri River.
Forever Wildlife Lodge and Clinic, a nonprofit animal rescue, in northwest Iowa has answered more than 200 calls since the flooding started, licensed wildlife rehabilitator Amanda Hase said.
Hase described the flooding as “catastrophic” for Iowa wildlife, which are getting washed out of dens and injured by debris. She and other rehabilitators are responding to calls about all kinds of species, from groundhogs to eaglets.
“I’ve never seen it this bad before, ever,” she said.
As new areas were flooding this week, some cities and towns were cleaning up after the waters receded while others downstream were piling sandbags and taking other measures to protect against the oncoming swelled currents.
Many streams, especially with additional rainfall, may not crest until later this week as the floodwaters slowly drain down a web of rivers to the Missouri and Mississippi. The Missouri will crest at Omaha on Thursday, said Kevin Low, a weather service hydrologist.
Collins reported from Hartford, Connecticut, and Beck reported from Omaha, Nebraska. Associated Press writer Rick Callahan in Indianapolis contributed to this report.
This story has corrected the name the river where the house collapsed. It is the Blue Earth River, not the Big Earth River.
In this photo provided by the Minnesota Governor’s Office, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz surveys flood damage over southern Minn., Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (Courtesy of the Minnesota Governor’s Office)
La Hansen, left, and her husband, Chuck, stroll about a partially flooded downtown Waterville, Minn., on Tuesday, June 25, 2024. La said it is the first time she has been out since Sunday. (Casey Ek/The Free Press via AP)
Kason Fisher wheels past flood waters from Sakatah Lake in downtown Waterville, Minn., on Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (Casey Ek/The Free Press via AP)
Heavy rains in recent days have submerged farmland near Vermillion, S.D., on Tuesday, June 25, 2024. Flooding has devastated communities in several states across the Midwest. (Jake Hoffner via AP)
An onlooker stands on a road barrier as waters rush by the Rapidan Dam in Rapidan, Minn., Monday, June 24, 2024. Waters from the Blue Earth River diverted the dam amid recent heavy rainfalls. (Casey Ek/The Free Press via AP)
The Rapidan Dam in Rapidan, Minn., wears the damage after a partial collapse of the west bank, Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (Casey Ek/The Free Press via AP)
Debris is shown stuck on the Grand Avenue Bridge over the Little Sioux River as a sump pump forces water back into the river, in Spencer, Iowa, Tuesday, June 25, 2024. The bridge was closed to traffic as of noon Tuesday. (Tim Hynds/Sioux City Journal via AP)
Volunteer Tyron Berkenpas, an employee of Maintainer Corporation in Sheldon, Iowa, removes a bag of flood-damaged items, Tuesday, June 25, 2024, from the basement of a home on East Second Street in Spencer, Iowa. Spencer, population of about 11,400, is recovering after the Little Sioux River flooded a large section of the city this past weekend. Officials there say about 40% of properties in the city were affected by the flooding. (Tim Hynds/Sioux City Journal via AP)
Floodwaters rush over a collapsed railroad bridge over the Big Sioux River near North Sioux City, S.D., on Monday, June 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Josh Jurgens)
Jared Gerlock, left, and his son, Robbie, carry a bin of water-logged stuffed animals, out of the flood-damaged basement of their home on East Second St. in Spencer, Iowa Tuesday, June 25, 2024. Officials say about 40% of properties in the city were affected after the Little Sioux River flooded. (Tim Hynds/Sioux City Journal via AP)
A small U.S. flag stands in a flooded yard in Waterville. Minn., Tuesday, June 25, 2024. A vast swath of lands from eastern Nebraska and South Dakota to Iowa and Minnesota has been under siege from flooding of torrential rains since last week, while also being hit with a scorching heat wave. (Casey Ek/The Free Press via AP)
Rachel Morsching sits Tuesday, June 25, 2024, on the flooded porch of her father Dean Roemhildt's home in Waterville., Minn. Waters from the nearby Tetonka and Sakatah lakes have encroached on the town amid recent heavy rains. (Casey Ek/The Free Press via AP)
The innards of a house near the Rapidan Dam in Rapidan, Minn., are visible as waters from the Blue Earth River rush by, Monday, June 24, 2024. (Casey Ek/The Free Press via AP)
Crews survey the area surrounding the Rapidan Dam from a lift, Monday, June, 24, 2024, in Rapidan, Minn. (Casey Ek/The Free Press via AP)
A shipping container barrels down the Blue Earth River, Monday, June 24, 2024, in Rapidan, Minn., after waters from the waterway diverted the Rapidan Dam, causing massive damage to the western cliffs. (Casey Ek/The Free Press via AP)
A tornado is seen near Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Tuesday, June 25, 2024. More severe weather was forecast to move into the region Tuesday, potentially bringing large hail, damaging winds and even a brief tornado or two in parts of western Iowa and eastern Nebraska, according to the National Weather Service. (Nick Rohlman/The Gazette via AP)
Heavy rains in recent days have submerged farmland near Vermillion, S.D., on Tuesday, June 25, 2024. Flooding has devastated communities in several states across the Midwest. (Jake Hoffner via AP)
Onlookers take in the catastrophic damage to the Rapidan Dam site in Rapidan, Minn., Monday, June 24, 2024. Debris blocked the dam forcing the heavily backed up waters of the Blue Earth River to reroute along the bank nearest the Dam Store. (Casey Ek/The Free Press via AP)
