Rapidan Dam intact, but ‘partial failure’ reported [Video]

BLUE EARTH COUNTY, Minn. — Officials in southern Minnesota confirm a “partial failure” has occurred at the site of the Rapidan Dam on the Blue Earth River south of Mankato.

In a news release Monday afternoon, Blue Earth County confirmed a “partial failure on the west abutment,” but added the dam is “still intact and there are no current plans for a mass evacuation.”

Earlier in the day, the Blue Earth County Sheriff’s Office posted on social media that the county office of emergency management and public works departments were monitoring the build-up of debris at the dam. 

Blue Earth County Sheriff Jeff Wersal said dead trees from drought got kicked up from the bottom when river levels rose.

“Normally we have ways of getting the trees when they come a few at a time out of the dam,” Wersal said. “The water …