Late Tuesday, June 25, a house on the edge of the Blue Earth River near Minnesota’s Rapidan Dam collapsed due to severe erosion caused by a partial failure of the dam earlier in the week. This incident occurred amid one of the area’s most severe floods on record.
Despite the damage, officials confirm the dam is intact and there are no plans for a mass evacuation.
The flood swept away an electrical substation along the river’s west bank, near the iconic Rapidan Dam Store, a treasured local landmark managed by the Barnes family for decades. The family also owned the house that was carried away.
The Barnes family evacuated their home just in time, watching it fall into the swollen river after the breach in the dam’s west abutment. The Barnes consider themselves fortunate to have escaped unharmed.
Jenny Barnes, the owner of the Rapidan Dam Store, expressed the severity of the situation.
“That’s our business; that’s our livelihood,” Barnes said. “It’s everything to us. There’s no stopping it. It’s going to go where it wants to go. It’s going to take what it wants to take.”
Blue Earth County Emergency Management reported that the channel around the dam’s west abutment has widened and deepened, with most of the water now bypassing the dam’s gates. Although the water flow has slightly decreased, it remains challenging for emergency mitigation efforts. The focus of emergency services has shifted from the dam to assessing the stability of a nearby bridge.
The Rapidan Dam, more than a century old and previously capable of generating 6 million watts of hydroelectric power, has deteriorated over the years due to regular flooding and aging infrastructure. A 2021 county report presented officials with a critical decision: repair or remove the dam.
Authorities continue to monitor for potential downstream impacts, part of a broader pattern of extreme weather, including torrential rains and flooding, that has caused widespread devastation across the upper Midwest.
