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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Dashing waters from the Blue Earth River have already left a path of particles and destruction on the sides of a southern Minnesota dam that partially failed final week, however officers acknowledged Tuesday the construction most in peril stands out as the bridge that looms close by.
The County Street 9 Bridge is prone to crumbling, and officers mentioned they’ve little recourse. The risk to the bridge accelerated after a bout of heavy rain and flooding pummeled the Midwest for days. The Blue Earth River’s water ranges rose dramatically and tested the structural integrity of the dam. The dam has held up, however the specter of collapse hasn’t waned.
Now, the roughly 40-year-old bridge locals use to commute throughout the dam from rural patches of land to close by cities, could topple over if the climate would not cooperate.
“Sadly, we’re on the mercy of Mom Nature at this level,” mentioned Ryan Thilges, the general public works director for Blue Earth County. “We’re very involved in regards to the potential for partial or full failure of the bridge.”
Thilges stood atop a hillside on the jap facet of the Rapidan Dam close to the Minnesota metropolis of Mankato. He was flanked by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and different officers who went to the dam to get an replace on flood circumstances and restoration efforts.
Officers are warily watching each the dam and the bridge, noting that the still-surging river has drastically modified the world.
“I feel the priority is that’s the bridge going to be structurally broken by this and can it have to be changed?” Walz mentioned.
The floodwaters solid a brand new river channel across the dam minimize deeply right into a steep riverbank, toppling utility poles, wrecking a substation, swallowing a house and forcing the removal of a beloved store. The circumstances have made it too harmful for officers to get shut sufficient for a radical inspection of the bridge, however they’ve already recognized troubling indicators of harm.
The river is washing away massive quantities of sediment, inflicting instability to the bridge’s supporting piers, constructed atop sandstone bedrock. Officers have been in a position to stabilize at the very least one pier however mentioned they have not been in a position to get to the others.
Complicating issues was “an enormous spike of timber that got here down the river” on Sunday, Thilges mentioned. The lifeless timber, a product of drought over the past a number of years, collided with the bridge, and a few are hanging on the piers. The county has not been capable of finding contractors who felt secure sufficient to clear the particles.
“No one was prepared to ship out their operator and threat their operator’s life to attempt to push these timber by,” Thilges mentioned.
Flooding has triggered hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in harm to bridges, houses and roads throughout Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota. The dam captured consideration after officers initially mentioned it confronted an “imminent risk” of collapse.
The Rapidan Dam is over a century previous, completed in 1910. Whereas it was constructed to generate electrical energy, it has been broken by a number of rounds of flooding in latest a long time. An April 2023 evaluation carried out by the Nationwide Stock of Dams discovered Rapidan to be in poor situation, and officers have been finding out the opportunity of eradicating it.
A federal catastrophe declaration has been authorized for Blue Earth County, and native officers mentioned the extra sources shall be crucial for rebuilding efforts. However these initiatives might be sophisticated by a delicate panorama the place aid efforts can typically exacerbate decline, Thilges mentioned.
“I’ll be completely sincere, all of the options we got here up with had nearly as unhealthy or worse hostile impacts that would have an effect on the dam stability additional, or it might lead to harm to the bridge or further erosion,” he added. “We’d like Mom Nature to offer us a break.”
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