Emergency officials in Manawa, Wisconsin, were working Friday to rescue people stranded on flooded roads after torrential rains caused rivers to overflow and overflow a local dam.
More than 5 inches of rain fell in about four hours on Friday morning in areas near the dam, and the Little Wolf River began to overtop Manawa Dam around 12:30 p.m. local time, said Kurt Kotenberg, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Kotenberg said emergency authorities were working to rescue stranded drivers who were trying to escape. “People were in their cars in flooded roads,” he said. Some people were rescued “standing on the hoods of their cars,” he added.
Kotenberg said there had been no reports of deaths or injuries as a result of the flooding as of Friday afternoon.
Heavy rains in the Midwest in recent weeks have highlighted the vulnerability of dams in the region, including the Rapidan Dam in southern Minnesota, which nearly failed last month.
Manawa Dam sits on the edge of Manawa Mill Pond, just north of the Wisconsin city of about 1,400 people, about 50 miles west of Green Bay. Kotenberg said it will take time to determine whether the dam has failed.
In an advisory, the weather bureau urged Manawa residents to evacuate to higher ground if possible. Kotenberg clarified that residents should try to get to higher ground while in evacuation centres and not try to escape through flooded roads.
In a message posted on Facebook, the Waupaca County Sheriff's Office said rescue workers were “working hard” to help vulnerable people in Manawa, and urged residents to avoid the city.
In a separate message, authorities urged residents in affected areas to boil tap water before drinking it, saying “the water should be considered unsuitable for drinking due to contaminants.”
