Dam fails in eastern Iowa, causing massive flooding

A dam on an eastern Iowa lake suffered a "catastrophic" failure Saturday, sending a massive amount of water into nearby communities and forcing residents to flee, officials said.

The Lake Delhi dam, about 45 miles north of Cedar Rapids, failed as a result of "massive rain -- a very unusually high amount this season," according to Jim Flansburg, communications director for Gov. Chet Culver.

Culver told CNN that nearly 10 inches of rain had recently fallen in a 12-hour period in the area and was "too much water for the dam to hold."

The roads on either side of the dam -- which were part of the dam's containment measures -- apparently gave out as a result of the rainfall,

The National Weather Service reported a 30-foot-wide gap in the berm alongside the dam. Video showed massive amounts of water violently gushing from the pool behind the dam into the Maquoketa River below. Nearby homes and buildings were under water up to their eaves.

Evacuation sirens sounded about 1 p.m. (2 p.m. ET) for the approximately 700 residents of Hopkinton, who had about five minutes to flee, Flansburg said.

No injuries were reported.

The town of Monticello, where Culver was meeting with emergency personnel, was also under a flood warning.

Amanda Duck, a trained weather spotter along with her husband in Monticello, told CNN she had been watching the water slowly rise all day.

By evening, water was beginning to seep over a road that runs behind her house and into her neighbor's yard, she said.

"We're both just in a state of shock," Duck said. "We're just trying to keep our wits about us and help our neighbors."

Culver activated the National Guard in the area to help with recovery efforts, his office said.

He also issued disaster proclamations for Delaware and Jones counties due to the flooding.

Culver credited the lack of injuries to local officials providing early warning to residents in the flood plain about the possibility of a dam breach.

The governor said such a failure had never happened before.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• flood
• dam
• iowa
• fail
• accident
• extreme
• water
• h20
• disaster
• monticello
• catastrophic
• lake delhi
• cedar rapids

[BeepBeepBoing]

One muslim guy survived ... Mustafa Dinghy

[Fox250R]

What caused the dam to break? LMFAO! stupid fucking butch

[Fox250R]

Nothing to see here move along

[oldbag99]

Before this I thought Culver was an idiot. Now, I know Culver is an idiot.

[raydmond]

Iowaaaaaaaaa

[finchfreak22]

we liv in monticello n it was really sad seein all da water everywhere

[tomps43]

@ksw420 its funny how you all talk about this like you know something about it. This dam was built in the 20's and it is privately maintained, owned by the HOA of the private lake. It has nothing to do with or for your liberal agenda.

[solidsteellilly]

I'm suprised that our gov't is letting pictures come out of the area. The must be too busy keeping photographers away from the Louisiana shores to keep the cameras away from this.

[ksw420]

America falls apart while our Govt. spends billions on failed "wars on terror".

sorry, we cant fix your bridge/road/dam/school... we need that money for war!!!

[CaptainChaos]

Didn't this dam have a spillway?