Residents who evacuated their homes Tuesday amid flooding were allowed to return after an inspection of the Nashville Reservoir dam in Illinois determined it was safe, authorities said.
Two failures of the dam had earlier prompted authorities to urge hundreds of people to evacuate.
On Tuesday morning, the Washington County Emergency Management Agency issued an evacuation order on its Facebook page for a specified geographic area, warning that the dam was on the verge of failure. An update to the post announced a second dam failure, stating that the area “has been overtopped with flood waters.”
One woman was unable to evacuate and was trapped in her home until she was assisted by first responders, according to Alex Haglund, spokesperson for the Washington County Emergency Management Agency. The water in the woman’s home was waist-high.
The Army Corps of Engineers later assessed the dam for safety with the help of a drone, according to an updated statement Tuesday afternoon by the county’s emergency management agency.
“At this time, without further rain, the immediate safety concern has passed,” the agency said. “The secondary dam reacted as designed, helping prevent a full dam failure.”
Repairs will have to be completed soon in order to “maintain the integrity of the dam,” the agency added.
Haglund said earlier that evacuation orders reached 299 phones, while Washington County residents outside the evacuation area, including himself, were advised to stay home and avoid travel.
“Currently, we have a lot of other flooding that’s not related to the dam, and that has made it so that there are no major road routes that are consistently accessible in our county,” Haglund said.
During the emergency, the county activated Red Cross assistance and set up an evacuation center at a local church, while emergency management worked to repair the dam. No injuries have been reported, but county officials noted signifiant property damage from the flooding.
Authorities said I-64 reopened and personnel were working to reopen state routes 127 and 15 in Washington County.
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for several counties in Illinois after unprecedented storms swept through the Chicago area last night, leaving many without power. A flood watch remains in effect through Wednesday morning as rain is expected to continue.