A Minnesota dam is on the brink of collapse due to flooding

The Rapidan Dam near Mankato, Minnesota is in “imminent failure condition,” according to local emergency management, as communities across the Upper Midwest continue to deal with major flooding.

A dam in southern Minnesota is in “imminent failure condition,” according to local authorities, as communities across the Upper Midwest continue to deal with major flooding from heavy rains. The Blue Earth County government announced the risk to the Rapidan Dam near Mankato, Minnesota in a Monday Facebook post. “The Dam is in imminent failure condition,” the county said. “We do not know if it will totally fail or if it will remain in place, however we determined it was necessary to issue this notification to advise downstream residents and the correct regulatory agencies and other local agencies.” The county added that they had first been notified of “accumulating debris” at the dam Sunday. Workers from Blue Earth County Public Works, the emergency management agency, and the sheriff’s office are actively monitoring the dam, according to the Facebook post. The Blue Earth River cut around the west side of the dam, emergency management said, carrying damaging debris in its wake and causing power outages. In a Monday evening update, the county noted that although there was a “partial failure on the west abutment,” the “dam is still intact” and there are currently no plans for a “mass evacuation.”