Video shows home by Rapidan Dam collapsing into southern Minnesota river, nearby store could be next
RAPIDAN TOWNSHIP, Minn. — The raging Blue Earth River, which caused an abutment of the 114-year-old Rapidan Dam to partially fail, has now swallowed most of the iconic home that sits on a nearby embankment amid Minnesota's historic flooding. A nearby store could likely be next, according to the owners.
Blue Earth County officials say the collapse occurred on Tuesday evening and they continue to monitor for possible impacts downstream.
The river is expected to drop up to 5 feet by Friday. Officials say it's still cutting away quickly.
For years, the Rapidan Dam Store, which WCCO profiled in a 2022 episode of "Finding Minnesota," was a place for pie and making memories.
WCCO spoke on Monday with Jenny Barnes, whose family has owned the home and store for more than 50 years. As she was baking pies to sell that morning, she heard the river take out a nearby Xcel Energy substation.
"It's very close to the house. We had to evacuate this morning, get as much as we could out. All the freezers and such," Barnes said. "It's my childhood. I grew up in the house, I grew up in the dam store. I've been there all my life."
Rapid erosion carved the ground below the home, leaving its east side hanging over a cliff before the partial collapse.
The family told WCCO on Wednesday that officials believe the store is likely to be next to go into the water as the river continues to carve out the ground around it.
"My family is sitting here waiting for their history to be washed away minute by minute," said Shannon Whittet, whose uncle Jim Hruska bought the store in 1972. "My family has lost their home, they've lost their business, their livelihood and their land will be gone. This isn't a simple situation of something happened, and we will rebuild. The land will be the last thing. And it will be gone."
Whittet says that family members were able to clear everything out of the store, but they weren't able to retrieve all their belongings from their home.
"The water is forceful. It's mighty. It's going to go wherever it wants to go. It will make room for itself at the expense of everything," Whittet said.
She added that she'll miss sitting in a booth with her uncle, and seeing kids come up to the counter or sit on rocking stools. Since the house was swallowed by the river, people have donated food and water, and have set up a GoFundMe.
The dam remains in "imminent failure condition," according to county officials, but the threat of a breach has diminished. On Tuesday, Sheriff Jeff Wersal said the water level in a "catastrophic event would not be that significant."
If there is a full collapse of the dam, county leaders say the river could rise another 2 feet or so. There is a levee system protecting the city and officials are confident it will hold up.
The Blue Earth County Historical Society says the dam opened in 1910, doubling Mankato's electric power capacity.
The National Inventory of Dams rated the dam in poor condition as of April 2023, classifying its hazard potential as "significant."
The Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission are still assessing the damage.