After the rains caused flash flooding and emergency workers noticed the ground eroding near Manawa Dam, authorities began evacuating people downstream to the city’s Masonic Center and high school, as well as nursing home residents to the King Veterans Home, about 20 miles away.
Kotenberg said the Little Wolf River rose and overtopped Manawa Dam around 12:30 p.m. Video from WGBA showed river water spilling over a breached bank next to the dam as landslides continued to cause flooding.
Manawa Mayor Mike Frazier said at a news conference that there were no deaths or injuries.
Happening now: The National Weather Service in Green Bay says a dam has failed on the Little Wolf River downstream from the Manawa…
Posted by NBC26 on Friday, July 5, 2024
The storm developed as a slow-moving cold front and low pressure system passed through the region between Friday morning and midday. Rainfall has been much higher than normal in the upper Midwest since the spring, causing multiple floods.
Torrential rains dumped more than 10 inches of rain in Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota last month, causing widespread flooding in the Midwest and Northern Plains. The heavy rains caused a railroad bridge between South Dakota and Iowa to collapse, and the Rapidan Dam near Mankato, Minnesota, failed, washing away at least one home. The dam remains at risk of partial failure.
These floods were exacerbated by soil that was already wet from rains and rising temperatures several months earlier.
In Manawa, Kotenberg said 6 inches of rain has hit the area over the past two weeks, soaking the ground and precipitation amounts are only going to increase on Friday. He expects a relatively calm Saturday with more storms arriving on Sunday that could bring up to a half-inch of rain to the area.
Jason Samenow and Scott Dance contributed to this report.
