Residents in a city in southern Illinois were ordered Tuesday to “evacuate now” because a dam for the city’s reservoir could fail at any moment.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Washington County Emergency Management Agency said: “Attention … the Failure of the Nashville dam is imminent. Please evacuate your home at this time. If you are in the grey box, you need [to] evacuate now!” It was referring to an area that appears to be downstream from the reservoir.
Officials warned in the statement post that the dam “has been overtopped with flood waters.”
The dam in question is the Nashville City Reservoir Dam, which holds the Nashville City Reservoir.
A separate post on the emergency management agency’s social media page stated that a shelter was being used in Nashville’s West Walnut Street. “The Red Cross has been activated,” officials also wrote.
The evacuation was taking place in Nashville, located in Washington County, Illinois, around 50 miles southeast of St. Louis.
Washington County was under a flash flood warning until 1:45 p.m. ET, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). So far, between 2 to 6 inches of rain has fallen in the area, and additional totals of 0.3 inches to 1 inch are possible for the warned area, officials said, adding that “life-threatening” flooding is ongoing.
“Flash flooding is ongoing,” the NWS wrote. “Illinois State Police reported I-64 closed in both directions between mile markers 50 and 61.”
Earlier Tuesday, Alex Haglund with the Washington County management agency told local news outlet KSDK-TV that a secondary dam on the reservoir had failed, which was also confirmed by the Emergency Management Agency in its statement.
The Nashville population stood at about 3,100 people during the last census.
This is a breaking news story. More details will be added later.
From The Epoch Times