CNN is reporting that a compromised levee in Poplar Bluff, Mo., failed Tuesday, the city's police department said. The failure was expected to send floodwaters from the Black River racing into a populated but rural area of Butler County, sparing the city of Poplar Bluff, said the city's deputy police chief, Jeff Rolland.
The Butler County sheriff was coordinating emergency evacuations of the area, Rolland said. The city remained at high risk from the levee failing at another location that prompted the evacuation of about 1,000 people from the southern part of the city, Rolland said. About 259 people are sheltered in the city's Black River Coliseum, he said.
Gov. Jay Nixon deployed the Missouri National Guard to the southeastern corner of the state for what the National Weather Service said could be record flooding. Nixon ordered National Guard troops to help with efforts to shore up levees near Poplar Bluff and other river communities, among other duties.
Authorities ordered some residents most at risk to evacuate immediately. Other residents near the river were asked to closely monitor developments and water levels in their neighborhoods, the police department said.
Mother Nature has been merciless as of late. Storms, tornadoes and now this? A failed levee does not bode well for the residents. This story is developing.
Read more at CNN.
In other news: U.S. Orders Americans Out of Syria as Violence Escalates.
Like The Root on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.