Residents of a small Illinois city ordered to evacuate amid warnings that dam could burst during once-in-a-century rainfall

Evacuations have been ordered for residents in Nashville, Illinois, with county emergency officials warning that the dam for the city’s reservoir could breach at any moment.

Evacuations have been ordered for residents of Nashville, Illinois, with county emergency officials warning the dam for the city’s reservoir could rupture at any moment. “Attention the failure of the Nashville dam is imminent. Please evacuate your home at this time … you need evacuate now!” the Washington County Emergency Management Agency said in a hasty Facebook post Tuesday morning. Washington County was under a flash flood warning as of 10 a.m. CT after the region received over 5 inches of rain in the past six hours, according to radar estimates from the National Weather Service office in St. Louis. That level of rain approaches 100-year rainfall frequency – the type of downpour statistically likely to happen only once every century – according to weather records. Extreme rainfall events like these are becoming more common, and they illustrate the effects of climate change. As the planet warms from fossil fuel pollution, the atmosphere is able to hold more moisture, which can then be released as intense rainfall. Heavy rain was still falling in the area Tuesday morning. Another round of heavy precipitation is possible for the region overnight, after a potential break in the heaviest rain later Tuesday afternoon and evening.