Flash flood warnings have been issued for parts of central Wisconsin and evacuations are underway as water has overflown the Manawa dam in Waupaca County, a surge National Weather Service officials consider a dam failure.
The city of Appleton and the area surrounding it are under flash flood warnings, according to the NWS. A flood watch was issued for the city of Green Bay. All entrances to Manawa, a city with a population of roughly 1,400 where the dam has begun overflowing, are blocked, according to a post on the city’s Facebook page.
The NWS issued the flash flood warning for central Waupaca County until 9:30 p.m. today, urging residents to move to higher ground. Major flooding is expected downstream from the Manawa dam and the Little Wolf River. Weather officials said there were no injuries related to the flooding as of 3 p.m. local time.
Flooding started at 8:30 a.m. Friday, Manawa dam is damaged
Since around 8:30 a.m. Friday, the northwest side of Manawa received 5.6 inches of rain, according to Kurt Kotenderg, a meteorologist for NWS of Green Bay. Outagamie County also saw 2 to 3 inches of rain this morning until around noon and is expecting 1 to 1½ inches of rain to yet fall.
According to the city of Manawa Facebook page, vehicles are being flooded on the roads around the city. Citizens have been urged to avoid driving in the area.
“Turn around, don`t drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles,” the U.S. National Weather Service in Green Bay advised.
The city of Manawa’s Facebook page also reported that the Manawa dam has faced major damage, but isn’t completely broken. NWS explained to the Post-Crescent newspaper that the dam has been over-topped, meaning there is so much water that it is going over the dam. This is deemed a dam failure.
The flooding has caused the cancellation of the second day of Mid-Western Rodeo, which started yesterday and was slated to wrap up Sunday. The rodeo’s Facebook page announced that all performances for the weekend would be cancelled due to the flooding.
The Manawa police department released a press release, saying the land near the dam was eroding when first responders arrived, which started evacuation down the river.
Contributing by Rashad Alexander of the Post Crescent, part of the USA TODAY network.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Wisconsin dam fails as water flows over top, residents evacuate
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