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Flooding causes Rapidan Dam near Mankato to fail; nearby residents urged to evacuate
RAPIDIAN, Minn. — Flooding on the Blue Earth River caused the Rapidan Dam to fail on Monday morning. Le Sueur County residents in low-lying areas of the Minnesota River Valley are advised to evacuate, according to the county’s emergency management office.
The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood warning for areas downstream until 4:30 p.m.
The Blue Earth County Sheriff’s Office says debris started accumulating on Sunday at the 114-year-old dam, located about 10 miles southwest of Mankato, placing it “in imminent failure condition.”
Dam operators alerted officials at about 10:36 a.m. Monday the river had significantly eroded earth around the west side of the dam on the south side of Mankato, the National Weather Service says.
Blue Earth Co. Emergency Mgmt.
Pieces of an Xcel Energy building and other county buildings are adding to the debris in the water.
Officials also say the County Road 33 Bridge and County Road 90 Bridge are being closely monitored for debris passing downstream and may be closed if needed.
The Blue Earth County Sheriff’s Office says they are also aware of power outages and are working with Xcel to restore them.
The failure is expected to cause the Minnesota River at Mankato to crest just below major flood state on Tuesday morning, the National Weather Service says.
The Blue Earth River begins in northern Iowa and meets with the river’s west branch in Faribault County in southern Minnesota, according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. From there, it flows 108 miles north past the cities of Blue Earth, Winnebago, and Vernon Center to Mankato, where it enters the Minnesota River.
There are 21 cities in that watershed, of which Mankato and Fairmont are the largest.
This is a developing story. Stay with WCCO.com for more.
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A teacher and student killed in a shooting earlier this week at a school in Madison, Wisconsin, were identified Wednesday by authorities.
The Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office said in a news release provided to CBS News that 42-year-old Erin West and 14-year-old Rubi Vergara were fatally shot Monday morning at Abundant Life Christian School.
Preliminary examinations determined the two died of “homicidal firearm related trauma.” Both were pronounced dead at the scene, the medical examiner said.
An online obituary on a local funeral site stated Vergara was a freshman who leaves behind her parents, one brother, and a large extended family. It described her as “an avid reader” who “loved art, singing and playing keyboard in the family worship band.”
West’s exact position with the school was unclear.
The medical examiner also confirmed that a preliminary autopsy found that the suspected shooter, 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow — a student at the same school — was pronounced dead at a local hospital Monday of “firearm related trauma.” Madison Chief of Police Shon F. Barnes had previously told reporters that Rupnow was pronounced dead while being transported to a hospital.
Police had also previously stated that she was believed to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The shooting at the private Christian K-12 school was reported just before 11 a.m. Monday. In addition to the two people killed and the shooter, six others were wounded.
Police said the shooting occurred in a classroom where a study hall was taking place involving students from several grades.
A handgun was recovered after the shooting, Barnes said, but it was unclear where the gun came from or how many shots were fired. A law enforcement source said the weapon used in the shooting appears to have been a 9 mm pistol.
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