Nashville, Illinois, residents to evacuate after dam failures

Residents in Nashville, Illinois, roughly 55 miles southeast of St. Louis, evacuated their homes after the failure of Nashville’s two dams in a deluge of rain.

About 200 homes received an evacuation order around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, warning them that the failure of the city-owned earthen dam was “imminent.” The city reservoir overtopped one structure; a second at the site broke as intended.

Alex Haglund, the public information officer for Washington County, Illinois, said in a video on Facebook that no one was killed or seriously injured. Some people in the path of the spillway had waist-high water in their homes, he said, and one person had to be rescued.

He said the same system that caused the problems at the dam led to road closures all around the county.

“Neighboring agencies that were trying to get out here to help us had a difficult time. Some of them had to turn around, take different routes, or wait,” he said.

A shelter has been set up at Trinity Lutheran Church, and the American Red Cross has been activated, according to the Washington County Emergency Management Agency. Officials with the Red Cross said they would “continue to work with local partners to determine the ongoing needs of the community and coordinate services to help people get back on their feet.”

The Illinois Department of Transportation closed I-64 north of Nashville in both directions much of Tuesday, leaving people like North Carolina-based trucker Ramoses Johnson stranded. He was parked at the McDonald’s near Nashville, waiting for the roads to open.

“Hell, if I can say that,” Johnson said when asked what the day had been like. “Loads going to be late, money messed up.”

He expected to be late delivering a load to Miami.

Ben Hogan, science and operations officer at the National Weather Service in St. Louis, said forecasters knew there would be some storms and isolated flash flooding. But he said they did not expect the widespread heavy rain.

“These things that initiate thunderstorms this time of year tend to be really subtle and really difficult to pick out, and that was definitely the case here,” he said.

Haglund said officials with Washington County measured more than six inches of rain.

Flooding in Missouri

The same storm system that overwhelmed the dam in Nashville caused flash flooding in the St. Louis region.

Scott Air Force Base went to mission-essential status around 11:30 a.m. due to flooding both on the base and surrounding roadways. St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency posted numerous reports of road closures due to flooding, including a stretch of Illinois 158. At one point, a stretch of North Belt Road in Belleville was under two feet of water. The St. Clair County Animal Adoption Center had to be evacuated; all of the dogs were rescued.

In Missouri, the St. Louis Fire Department responded to numerous reports of vehicles in high water with people trapped. The department reported flooding on Chouteau Avenue, on Interstate 64 near the St. Louis Zoo and in low-lying areas along Riverview Drive in north St. Louis.

A video posted by the fire department on X, formerly known as Twitter, showed water pouring into the basement of a firehouse in Midtown, its public information officer, Capt. Garon Mosby, said.

The Missouri Department of Transportation shut down lanes of Interstate 270 in Florissant due to water on the roadway.

Photos on Facebook showed flooding in Maplewood, which was the scene of catastrophic flash flooding in 2022.

The Belleville News-Democrat’s Joshua Carter contributed to this report.