Residents Told to ‘Evacuate Now’ Due Imminent Dam Failure in Illinois City

A map posted by the Washington County Emergency Management Agency shows the evacuation area amid an imminent dam failure in Nashville, Ill., on July 16, 2024. Washington County Emergency Management Agency

Residents in a city in southern Illinois were ordered Tuesday to “evacuate now” because a dam for the city’s reservoir could fail at any moment.

In a social media statement issued on Tuesday, the Washington County Emergency Management Agency said: “Attention ... the Failure of the Nashville dam is imminent. Please evacuate your home at this time. If you are in the grey box, you need [to] evacuate now!” It was referring to an area that appears to be downstream from the reservoir.

Officials warned in the statement post that the dam “has been overtopped with flood waters.”

The dam at risk of failure is the Nashville City Reservoir Dam, which holds the Nashville City Reservoir, according to a map posted by the emergency agency.

A separate post issued by the emergency management agency’s social media page said that a shelter was being used in Nashville’s West Walnut Street. “The Red Cross has been activated,” officials also wrote.

The evacuation was taking place in Nashville, located in Washington County, Illinois, around 50 miles southeast of St. Louis.

Washington County was under a flash flood warning until 1:45 p.m. ET, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). So far, between 2 to 6 inches of rain has fallen in the area over the past 24 hours, and additional totals of 0.3 inches to 1 inch are possible for the warned area, officials said, adding that “life-threatening” flooding is ongoing.

“Flash flooding is ongoing,” the NWS wrote. “Illinois State Police reported I-64 closed in both directions between mile markers 50 and 61.”

Earlier Tuesday, Alex Haglund with the Washington County management agency told local news outlet KSDK-TV that a secondary dam on the reservoir had failed, which was also confirmed by the Emergency Management Agency in its statement.

The Nashville population stood at about 3,100 people during the last census.

The rain that was part of a series of storms that swept across the state was part of a larger system that led to tornadoes and tornado warnings in other areas, including Des Moines, Iowa, as well as the Chicago area.

By 12 p.m. local time, some 215,000 customers were without power in Illinois, according to PowerOutage.us.

The Chicago Fire Department said on the social media site X that there was only one serious injury in the nation’s third-largest city, a person who was hurt when a tree fell on a car. Also, Chicago’s O'Hare International Airport reported 81 flight cancellations as of Tuesday morning, and Midway International Airport reported eight cancellations.

In Joliet, Illinois, 35 miles southwest of Chicago, authorities said many roads were blocked by trees. The storms also cut power to thousands in Ohio and Pennsylvania and caused damage to property, tree,  and power lines. No injuries were reported.

This is a breaking news story. The Associated Press contributed to this report.