DES MOINES, Iowa – A family who saw their house collapse into a flooded river near a hazardous location Minnesota Dam promises to reopen its nearby store to sell homemade pies and burgers as soon as it is safe to do so.
The Rapidan Dam Store remained standing Wednesday, but after the house where its owners, Jenny Barnes and brother David Hruska, grew up collapsed into the Blue Earth River near Mankato the day before, they’re not sure what’s next. Next.
“We don’t know what will happen,” read a post on the store’s Facebook page Wednesday night, adding that it has been a difficult experience. “The Dam Store hasn’t sold its last burger or its last slice of pie.”
The disappearance of that house on the river and the hundreds of houses damaged or destroyed by floods in other parts of the upper Midwest are among the first property victims of Extreme weather dominating the region as floodwaters move south.
A swath running through Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota and Minnesota has been besieged by flooding due to torrential rains since last week, while also suffering from a suffocating heat wave. Up to 46 centimeters of rain fell in some areas, sending some rivers to record levels. Hundreds of people were rescued and at least two people died after driving through flooded areas.
In Iowa, more cities were preparing for flooding. The West Fork of the Des Moines River was expected to reach nearly 17 feet (5.1 meters) in Humboldt overnight Thursday. About 200 homes and 60 businesses in Humboldt could be affected, officials said.
In the coming days, Nebraska and northwest Missouri are expected to begin seeing the effects of flooding downstream. Many streams and rivers may not peak until later this week. The Missouri River will crest in Omaha on Thursday, said Kevin Low, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service.
Some of the most striking images were of the floodwaters that emerged around the Minnesota Dam.
Jessica Keech and her 11-year-old son saw part of their house near the dam fall into the river Tuesday night. They visited the area frequently to see the dam and enjoy pie from the Dam Store.
“It kind of sucked it into the water. It literally disappeared,” said Keech, of nearby New Ulm.
Blue Earth County officials said Wednesday that the river had penetrated wider and deeper into the bank and they were concerned about the integrity of a nearby bridge over the river. After the floodwaters pass, the county must decide whether to make repairs to the dam or possibly remove it — both options will cost millions of dollars.
President Joe Biden spoke by phone with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to discuss impacts to the Rapidan Dam and the Federal Emergency Management Agency has arrived in Minnesota, White House officials said.
Preliminary information from the National Weather Service shows that recent flooding has brought record river levels to more than a dozen locations in South Dakota and Iowa, surpassing previous crests by an average of about 3 feet.
In southeastern South Dakota, Canton residents were cleaning up after receiving 18 to 20 inches of rain in just 36 hours last week. A creek next to the 20 acres owned by Lori Lems and her husband flooded the playground they built in their backyard for their grandchildren.
Lems, 62, the former owner of a convenience store and wedding venue, said she has lived her entire life in the town of 3,200 and has never seen rain as intense as last week.
“We felt like we were in hurricane-type rain,” she said. “It was just unbelievable.”
Farther south, in North Sioux City, South Dakota, flooding toppled utility poles and trees, and some homes were ripped from their foundations. There was no water, sewer, gas or electricity in that area, Union County Emergency Management said Tuesday in a Facebook post.
In the Sioux City, Iowa, area, water overtopped the Big Sioux River levee, damaging hundreds of homes, authorities estimated. And the local wastewater treatment plant has been so overwhelmed by the flooding that officials say they are having to dump about a million gallons (3.8 million liters) of untreated sewage a day into the Missouri River.
Numerous roads were closed due to flooding, including Interstates 29 and 680 in Iowa near the Nebraska line.
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Collins reported from Hartford, Connecticut. Associated Press journalists Summer Ballentine in Jefferson City, Missouri, John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, and Lisa Baumann in Bellingham, Washington, contributed to this report.
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