Family that lost home to flooded river vows to keep store open as floodwaters devastate Midwest
This long-exposure drone photo provided by AW Aerial shows a home as it teeters before partially collapsing into the Blue Earth River at the Rapidan Dam in Rapidan, Minn., Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (Andrew Weinzierl/AW Aerial via AP)
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A family that watched their home collapse into a flooded river near an at risk Minnesota dam is vowing to reopen their nearby store to sell its homemade pie and burgers as soon as its 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 toppled into the Blue Earth River near Mankato the day before, they aren't entirely sure what's next.
This drone photo provided by AW Aerial shows a home as it teeters before partially collapsing into the Blue Earth River at the Rapidan Dam in Rapidan, Minn., Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (Andrew Weinzierl/AW Aerial via AP)
“We don’t know what will happen,” a post on the store's Facebook page said Wednesday night, adding that it's been a hard experience. “The Dam Store has not sold its last burger or sold its last slice of pie.”
That home's disappearance into the river and the hundreds of flood-damaged or destroyed homes elsewhere in the upper Midwest are among the first property casualties of extreme weather gripping the region as floodwaters move south.
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 stifling heat wave. Up to 18 inches (46 centimeters) of rain have fallen in some areas, pushing some rivers to record levels. Hundreds of people have been rescued and at least two people have died after driving in flooded areas.
This drone photo provided by AW Aerial shows a home as it teeters before partially collapsing into the Blue Earth River at the Rapidan Dam in Rapidan, Minn., Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (Andrew Weinzierl/AW Aerial via AP)
In Iowa, more towns were bracing for floodwaters. The west fork of the Des Moines River was expected to crest at nearly 17 feet (5.1 meters) in Humboldt overnight into Thursday. About 200 homes and 60 businesses in Humboldt could be affected, officials said.
Rising water from the Mississippi River envelopes the riverbank, Wednesday, June 26, 2024, at Harriet Island Regional Park in St. Paul, Minn. (Anthony Souffle/Star Tribune via AP)
In the coming days, Nebraska and northwestern Missouri are expected to start to see the downstream effects of the flooding. Many streams and rivers may not crest until later this week. The Missouri River will crest at Omaha on Thursday, said Kevin Low, a National Weather Service hydrologist.
Some of the most stunning images have been of the floodwaters surging around the Minnesota dam.
Jessica Keech and her 11-year-old son watched part of the house near the dam fall into the river Tuesday night. They had often visited the area to see the dam and enjoy the pie from the Dam Store.
“It just kind of sucked it into the water. Just literally disappeared,” said Keech, of nearby New Ulm.
Blue Earth County officials said Wednesday that the river had cut more widely and deeply into the bank, and they were concerned about the integrity of a nearby bridge over the river. After the flooding subsides, the county must decide whether to make repairs to the dam or possibly remove it — with both options costing millions of dollars.
President Joe Biden spoke by phone with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to discuss the impacts to the Rapidan dam and the Federal Emergency Management Agency had arrived in Minnesota, White House officials said.
A bridge crossing Beaver Creek, on the property of Lori Lems, is devastated after flooding in the area over the weekend. Wednesday, June 26, 2024, in Canton, SD. (AP Photo/Josh Jurgens)
Preliminary information from the National 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 (1 meter).
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)
In southeastern South Dakota, residents of Canton were cleaning up after getting 18 to 20 inches (46 to 51 centimeters) of rain in just 36 hours last week. A creek beside the 20 acres (8 hectares) owned by Lori Lems and her husband flooded the playground they’d built in their backyard for their grandchildren.
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)
Lems, a 62-year-old former convenience store and wedding venue owner, said she’s lived in the town of 3,200 people all her life and never saw rain as intense as last week’s.
“We felt that we were in a hurricane-type of rain,” she said. “It was just unbelievable.”
Farther south, in North Sioux City, South Dakota, flooding collapsed utility poles and trees, 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.
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.
Numerous roads were closed because of the 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.
After flooding in the area over the weekend, Rotary Park finally emerges from the depths of the Big Sioux River. Wednesday, June 26, 2024, in Canton, SD. (AP Photo/Josh Jurgens)
Hannah Fingerhut And Dave Collins, The Associated Press
A Skid Loader scoops up debris after residents were forced to dump trash at the high school after being unable to access the city dump while trying to clean up after flooding over the weekend, Wednesday, June 26, 2024, in Canton, SD . (AP Photo/Josh Jurgens)
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)
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)
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)